You want honesty? Flyers coach John Tortorella will give you honesty.
The notoriously straight shooting bench boss didn’t mince his words during his first period interview with ESPN's Brian Boucher for the Flyers’ Tuesday night contest against the Blue Jackets, criticizing the forecheck and overall play from his team.
Torts telling it like it is 😆 pic.twitter.com/MpqIsHaOtp
— David Pagnotta (@TheFourthPeriod) November 16, 2022
"We suck. We haven't forechecked, we haven't done anything as of right now."
It was a very on-brand answer for Tortorella, who is in his first season as the Flyers head coach. At the time, Philadelphia was losing to the Columbus 1-0.
The Flyers’ effort got better post-Torts mini rant. Philadelphia came back from deficits of 2-0 and 4-2 to force overtime, however, they eventually lost 5-4 on a Vladislav Gavrikov goal in the extra frame.
MORE: Explaining the NHL's new digital board advertisements
"We scored four tonight and we still lose," Tortorella said after the game. "First period, I just thought we didn't play well in the first period. Then we started playing better."
It’s not the first time the bench boss has been openly critical of the team. In fact, Tortorella has been honest during his entire time in Philadelphia.
As soon as he was hired by the Flyers, he gave his opinions on the state of the team and how the Flyers drastically needed to improve the team's culture. Since the season has started, he has preached about having an open and truthful connection with the players.
It’s not just the negatives either. Tortorella has praised the team when they have performed up to his standards, even in losses. Most recently, he was very happy about the team's effort during the Flyers 5-1 loss to the Stars. Despite the result on the scoreboard, he said he liked the work ethic from the group and thought they made improvements in their defensive structure.
Whatever Torts has been preaching has been working. The boys from Broad Street were expected to be one of the worst teams in the league this year. While it’s still early, the Flyers are 7-6-2 this season, sitting just outside of a playoff spot.
