John Tortorella Discusses His Team Finally Breaking Losing Streak
The Flyers finally snapped their 10-game losing streak last night with a win over the New York Islanders. And to discuss that win, the losing streak, and how he feels his team looks right now, Flyers Coach John Tortorella joined The Best Show Ever. He discussed some of his issues with the local media, Kevin Hayes, the injuries on the roster, and more. Here is some of what Coach John Tortorella had to say.
On Recent Criticism of How He Deals With the Media…
“We’re fine, they need to grow up. Everybody is so thinned skin. This is the first I have heard of this here. I’m not good at it. After games, I am so wrapped up in what went on in the game. I have to go out there and answer the questions. And sometimes I think the media are entitled to everything, and they are not. I will give the media things I feel are pertinent. I try to be respectful and answer the questions. But sometimes I don’t want to talk about certain things. And that is my prerogative…
I want to be as forthright and as transparent as I can be. But sometimes I don’t want to talk about certain situations. It may not help my team. Stuff like this goes on where people aren’t happy that I am not giving them enough time. I am trying do the best job I can. And I think I have been very transparent.”
On Kevin Hayes Being Moved Around the Line So Much
“Kevin Hayes is our top offensive player. Since TK has been out he has carried a lot of the load. Struggles defensively. I have put him on the wing. We have tried to correct some of his problems as a center iceman, and his play down low. Which encompasses quite a bit. There is a lot of work to be done there. We have tried to correct it. Haven’t. We still haven’t found our way there. So we put him on the wing to take some pressure off of him in that part of his game. So he can concentrate more on the offensive game. Which we desperately need because we just struggle to score goals.”
On The Recent Losing Streak…
“I don’t want to put all our losing on just because we have injured players. We have a lot to learn on how to win. For the majority part, while we have been losing these games, we probably played better than when we were winning. Our puck possession has improved over the past few weeks… The injured guys certainly puts a frame on that. We have a lot of young guys getting minutes we did not expect.
But we just have to get about it. We have to try to be better. No matter what the game is… The past two games our structure has been better. Last night was more of a complete game for us. Our third period has been really good. I thought we played really well in front of Carter. So not injury prone. Certainly some bad luck with key guys. out. but that is part of major sports. We have to find a way to be more consistent when we do have these injuries.”
And you can listen to the full interview with John Tortorella here…
