Tortorella doubles down, personally challenges his team and its fans

In case you missed it Monday night, the Philadelphia Flyers dropped a 4-3 overtime decision to the New York Islanders and Flyers' head coach John Tortorella was none too pleased with his team's effort.

The veteran coach lambasted his team in his post-game press availability, save for goaltender Ivan Fedotov.

Listen in on Torts going off on his team:

Yesterday, after given 24 hours to cool down but he was still as fiery as ever. When asked if he regretted his comments, Torts doubled down.

"If a player is going to quit on me, or players or going to quit on me because I’m trying to make them better people and better athletes, you’ve got the wrong damn coach here, and you’ve got the wrong damn people here,” Tortorella began.

“My job is, I’m going to push athletes. . . I was in control the other night. What I said I meant. And, quite honestly, when I watch the tape now, I’m more concerned than just the second period. Because of, I’m so proud of the team getting here."

Finally, Torts doesn't buy all the talk that the Flyers don't deserve to be in the playoff race. After all, nobody saw this team as a potential playoff contender at the outset of the season.

“And I guess now that narrative out there is, because I’ve heard from other people, is that they’re young, they’re not supposed to be here… bullshit! We’re here! We’re here; face it!”

“I don’t think we’re ready to be better, and that’s my problem with us right now,” Tortorella concluded. “And it is my job. I have not done a good enough job to get them over the hump after playing those seven games. I haven’t done a good enough job to make them understand we have to be different now. We have to be at a different level.

“That’s my frustration with me, and that’s my frustration with the team. If people can’t handle it, so be it.”

For our earlier report on Tortorella from Tuesday morning, read below.

In case you missed it last night, the Philadelphia Flyers dropped a 4-3 overtime decision to the New York Islanders, despite tying things up late.

After a very lacklustre 2nd half of the game where the Flyers were saved by new goalie Ivan Fedotov, the Flyers managed to salvage a single point by pushing things to overtime. Morgan Frost managed to give the Flyers some hope by tying the game up with only 9.6 seconds remaining on the clock, but the team couldn't get the extra point in the extra frame.

After the game Flyers head coach John Tortorella was incensed. He threw his entire team under the bus, save for Fedotov.

"There are certain people that they don't have a clue how to play, or just don't have it in them to play in these type of situations," Tortorella exclaimed to the media post-game. "That was embarrassing in the 2nd period for the Philadelphia Flyer uniform the way we played."

On Ivan Fedotov: "I'm totally impressed. I put him in a hell of a spot and he's the only god damn player that played in the 2nd period."

Here's Torts being Torts:

What I see here is a coach who is nervous about his team's compete level heading down the stretch. If Tortorella and the Flyers can't get their heads screwed on right in the next week then they don't stand a chance come the post-season. Again, what I see here is a good coach who knows how to push the right buttons.

What impressed me most in this game though was the composure of the 6'7" Fedotov in his NHL debut. Fedotov came into the game in the 2nd period to replace Samuel Ersson and he looked solid in relief.

I mean just look at the first NHL shot that Fedotov ever faced, courtesy of a Mat Barzal breakaway:

The 27 year old Fedotov wasn't able to secure victory in his first NHL game, but he showed glimpses of what he's capable of moving forward.