I’m starting to lose track, but I think this is the fourth time that John Tortorella has shut down Sherlock SanFilippo in a press conference:

lol

Plenty of thoughts on that, and the Coots thing in general, but let’s start with what matters – the Flyers won the game. They badly needed a solid home performance and two points after losing three of their previous four games and shipping 19 goals in those losses. They came out on fire in this game, built up a 3-0 lead, and then held on for a 4-3 win in a third period that got pretty dicey towards the end.

Naturally, the game-winner was a very 2024-type Flyers goal, with Scott Laughton breaking out of the box following a great penalty kill, then punishing the Leafs on the other end even after Owen Tippett fanned on what looked like a slam dunk:

Was scratching Sean Couturier the catalyst for the win? Did it light a fire under everybody else’s ass? That’s totally possible, but hard to prove, because the generation of motivation and effort doesn’t leave a trail of empirical evidence. People will say that Torts benching his captain sent a message to the team, basically the “coach pushing the right buttons” take, but it’s also plausible that the team knew they were playing at home and just needed to perform better to keep the Capitals and Islanders at arm’s length. For a scrappy and blue collar squad like this one, it’s equally possible that the renewed effort was innate.

In terms of the Ant vs. Torts thing, for starters, it’s wildly entertaining at this point. Part of me hopes that Anthony keeps asking questions and Torts keeps shutting him down just for the pure comedic value. I’d love to see how far it goes, because I don’t think it’s ending anytime soon, not unless we all sit down after the season and sing kum ba yah and hash it out. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious to see if this resolves itself on its own. Torts is committed to the bit and Anthony is going to do this thing, so in a way, both guys are sticking to their guns here.

What’s more interesting is that after Ant was shot down, Kevin Kurz from The Athletic (now with ads) immediately followed up with the same question, which bothered Torts. He did not want to talk about Sean Couturier, and the incredulity from the head coach was completely absurd. Here’s a guy who benched his captain and then sent Rocky Thompson out for pregame media availability. What do you think you’re going to be asked about?

You can write most of this off as Torts just being Torts, because he was annoyed with everybody and everything on Wednesday night, but the line that jumped out to me was “it’s between Sean and I,” which doesn’t mesh with what Coots said earlier on Tuesday. Couturier expressed frustration with his recent treatment and said that he hasn’t been given any kind of explicit direction from his head coach in terms of what he needs to improve to get back into the lineup. So, in my mind, if you’re going to shut down the media and keep it private between yourself and the player, that’s totally fine, but this player is on the record saying that he wasn’t given shit to work with. For a coach that preaches responsibility and accountability and all of that, it’s on you to have a real discussion with a veteran captain, because that apparently has not happened.

Now, at the risk of burying the lede, the other question is this:

Does anyone give a shit about any of this?

Probably not. I think the majority of Flyers fans care about one thing only, and that’s winning. If the Flyers go out and beat a great Leafs team 4-3 at home, then nothing else matters, as Metallica once said. Torts could have pulled down his pants, mooned the press, and then walked off and nobody would care because the Flyers beat a good team and got a much-needed two points. And there are many fans out there who agreed with the Coots benching and believe that if you want to be on the ice, you simply have to play better. Torts is treating the veteran captain the same way he’d treat anybody on the team, so it’s a very basic exercise in meritocracy. Those who perform well get their ice time and those who don’t sit on the bench, or up in the press box instead. That concept is rudimentary and embraced in a no-frills city like Philadelphia, where fans are subject to the same basic principles at their day jobs.

So no, fans shouldn’t care about spats with the media, or what’s said publicly vs. privately. But it’s worth keeping an eye on the larger-level Torts burnout narrative. Nobody is worried about the coach icing out reporters, but if too many of these player relationships become unhealthy, then that’s a legitimate worry. I think he’s done a fantastic job this season and quite frankly should be higher on these Jack Adams candidate lists, where Rick Tocchet looks to be the runaway winner. Torts probably should get more national credit for what he’s done this season.

At the same time, I keep reminding myself that the head coach was not hired by the current front office. Torts has a track record of wearing out his welcome with that inherent abrasiveness, so you hope it doesn’t turn into another Alain Vigneault situation, where we hit the valley not long after reaching the peak.

For now, we’re going to the Al Davis school of thinking. JUST WIN BABY.