Monday night saw the Philadelphia Flyers continue to string along wins as they defeated the Arizona Coyotes 5-3 in a comeback win that featured three Flyers goals in the third period. After the game as head coach John Tortorella addressed the media, he continued to give one specific media member the silent treatment after a rumor started during the Cutter Gauthier trade. Nonetheless, the moment provided for another signature sound bite from Torts.
Attempting to ask a question about Morgan Frost and his goal on the penalty shot, Flyers reporter Anthony SanFilippo made the bold move of chiming in. Once Tortorella noticed who was asking him the question, he shut it down real quick.
Back in January as the Flyers traded top prospect Cutter Gauthier, rumors began to swirl as to why Gauthier did not want to be a Flyer. On his podcast, Anthony SanFilippo stated that former Flyer Kevin Hayes had "his fingerprints all over this" and that Hayes potentially influenced Gauthier's decision.
This resulted in Kevin Hayes receiving death threats, horrible comments about the death of his brother, and tons of backlash from fans on social media which.
When Tortorella got wind of this, he unloaded on SanFilippo, with the now iconic line calling SanFilippo's podcast a "silly little podcast" and then proceeding to come to the defense of Kevin Hayes.
Weeks later, SanFilippo attempted to ask Tortorella a question, and he shut him down. Monday night was just round three of Torts v SanFilippo, and it has Flyers fans on Twitter buzzing.
Like it or not, Tortorella is sticking to his guns and ultimately, protecting his players from the toxic Philly media.