John Tortorella sure knows how to put on a show.
The Blue Jackets head coach, who’s notorious for his feisty postgame rants, lost his cool after Columbus’ 3-2 overtime loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday. And he placed the blame for the loss directly on the officials.
Tortorella was unhappy about how the officials managed the clock toward the end of overtime, which ultimately cost Columbus the game. So, he aired out his grievances during his postgame press conference.
And yes, it was as epic as you’d imagine — including fist-pounding and other angry gestures.
“So, the whistle blows. The whistle is blown at 19.2 (seconds) on the clock. For some reason, the clock is run down a second and a tenth to 18.1, for whatever reason, I have no (expletive) idea. So instead of resetting the clock, we have them tell our captain (Nick Foligno), ‘We’re not going to do it.’ Toronto doesn’t step in, refs don’t do their freakin’ job, and now we lose the game and we lose our goalie.
“So the change of events, if it was done right, we don’t lose our goalie, we win the hockey game. So all this (expletive) technology — right, the technology and getting things right — the stubbornness tonight by the officials and by the league and Toronto and however it’s supposed to (expletive) work, screws us. It’s ridiculous.”
Tortorella ended the presser abruptly by storming off while saying, “I’m not taking anymore (expletive) questions.”
Check it out for yourself:
A furious John Tortorella on how he believes the officials mismanaged the clock at the end of overtime.#CBJ | @BlueJacketsNHL pic.twitter.com/UWMw96F3FX
— Bally Sports Columbus (@BallySportsCBUS) December 30, 2019
Typical Tortorella.
