New York Rangers’ coach John Tortorella flays Pittsburgh Penguins over Derek Stepan hit-NHL News
The closing period of the National Hockey League (NHL) is turning out to be the roughest time of the league, with increasing number of teams holding grudges and rivalry against each other.
As of the latest, Pittsburgh Penguins have become the subject of a verbal attack from New York Rangers, whose coach accused a number of Penguins’ players of playing rough on the ice.
It is pertinent to note here that Penguins are already involved in a rift with Philadelphia Flyers over the controversial positioning of tough guys as a response to the rowdy behaviour of Flyers’ players on ice, in their previous game.
Now Rangers, who played Penguins on Thursday, April 05, 2012, accused Penguins’ defenseman, Brooks Orpik, of knocking down their centre, Derek Stepan, by intentionally planting a knee-to-knee hit on him.
In his comments after the game, which Rangers lost by two to five (2-5) goals, the coach, John Tortorella, called the hit a ‘cheap’ and ‘dirty’ trick by Penguins’ player.
He said:
"I wonder what would happen if we did it to their two whining stars? Wonder what would happen?" So I'm anxious to see what happens with the League. There's no respect amongst players. None."
The coach was not satisfied there and then, and went on to call Penguins an arrogant organisation and added some other furious remarks.
Tortorella said of Penguins:
"That's one of the most arrogant organisations in the League. They whine about this stuff all the time. It's ridiculous. But they'll whine about something else over there, won't they? Starting with their two (bleeping) stars."
Some commentators believe that the main reason behind the coach’s outburst was his worries of maintaining a hundred percent fit squad with Stanley Cup playoffs just around the corner.
They believe the tirade was very much seen coming from the official given his rather significant concern for his team, and the extra care he takes of the fitness of the players.
This may be true with regard to any official in the league.
Interestingly, the team has not said anything about the latest status of Stepan’s injury or whether and how severely he was injured as a result of the hit.
Meanwhile, Penguins’ coach, Dan Bylsma, has compared the hit to the one their defenseman, Kris Letang, received from Dallas Stars’ left wing, Eric Nystrom.
Even though Letang missed the next five consecutive games due to the hit, Nystrom was not suspended by the league over the hit, he said.
This is the second time in a week that Penguins have been a part of controversial situation.
Earlier, their assistant coach, Tony Granato, was fined $2,500 by the league over his part in a face-to-face confrontation with Flyers’ coach, Peter Laviolette, who was asked to pay the hefty amount of $10,000 as a penalty over the brawl.
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