Expert lip reader breaks down exactly what Tortorella said to get fined $50K

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Liam McCormick
March 13, 2024 (7:12 PM)

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Last Saturday night's game between the Philadelphia Flyers and Tampa Bay Lightning proved to be a real eventful one. The Lightning were hammering the Flyers 4-0 when a penalty against Philly sent coach John Tortorella on a complete rampage against the referees. Torts was ejected but refused to leave the bench, getting into a long shouting match which has now been broken down by an expert lip-reader. Check out the video below, but beware of the expletives.

For his actions in this game, directed mostly towards referee Wes McCauley, Tortorella was suspended for two games and fined a whopping $50K. The NHL and Gary Bettman must've really been against Tortorella's refusal to leave the bench, or whatever he initially said to the referee about the first penalty.

In recent weeks, a few other head coaches around the league have been fined for their comments towards officials, but those incidents were for only $5K. Clearly, the NHL is trying to crack down on coach's treatment of referees, and want to make an example of Torts.

We'll have to see how coaches respond, but it feels like more and more coaches around the league are willing to call out the inconsistent refereeing and lack of standards. As the games get more intense heading towards the playoffs, it'll only make the coaches louder.