John Tortorella was up to some of his usual antics on Thursday night. After his Vegas Golden Knights eliminated the Anaheim Ducks from the second round of the playoffs in six games, the typically testy bench boss skipped the playoff handshake line and spurned his postgame media responsibilities, per The Sporting Tribune’s Zach Cavanagh.
Tortorella seemingly shook hands with Anaheim’s coaching staff on the bench and made an immediate beeline for the team’s bus. According to The Athletic’s Jesse Granger, the Golden Knights also did not open their dressing room after the win. Only three players spoke with the media: Brett Howden and Mitch Marner at the podium, and another unnamed player who was brought to a side room.
The team did not provide an official reason for the strange, cold behavior. However, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman shed some light on the likely reason behind the petulance during his guest spot on Friday’s The FAN Hockey Show.
“I think it was a bit of a temper tantrum,” Friedman said. “They were mad about the McNabb suspension. I guarantee you that thing last night was in reaction to the McNabb suspension. They were really upset about it.”
Golden Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb was suspended for the clinching Game 6 as a result of a hit he threw on Anaheim’s Ryan Poehling in Game 5.
McNabb hit an unsuspecting Poehling well away from the puck, forcing the latter out of the game with an upper-body injury after the back of his head clanged off the boards.
McNabb was given a 5-minute major penalty for interference and was ejected 9 minutes into regulation. Friedman believes the injury that Poehling suffered on the play was a big factor in the Department of Player Safety deciding to hand down supplemental discipline.
“The thing is that Poehling was hurt, right?” Friedman said. “If there was a Game 7 on Saturday night, I don’t think he was going to be playing. So it’s an illegal hit where a player is hurt. They said, ‘Look, McNabb plays a mean game, and he’s never been suspended in 14 years. He’s not that type of player.’ But the league disagreed, and I think the injury had a lot to do with it.
“I was driving home after the Buffalo game last night, and I was listening to the Vegas feed, and they had Ben Hutton on after. Hutton said, ‘As a team, we were like win it for 3,’ McNabb’s number. I just heard they were really upset about it. I would think that what happened postgame last night was reaction from one to the other, and I would bet on some level that Tortorella didn’t want to talk about the suspension.”
The Golden Knights will take on the dominant Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference Finals for the chance to play for this year’s Stanley Cup. The first game of the series is set for Wednesday, May 20.
Tortorella, who only took the Vegas job from a fired Bruce Cassidy on March 29, will likely have to answer for his peculiar actions before then.
