John Tortorella Furious After Garnet Hathaway Receives Major Penalty For Hit On Luke Hughes 

For those not watching the game, Luke Hughes returned at the start of the 2nd period.

We are definitely witnessing the worst officiating games in decades

For Torts standard he was really calm

I think Torts handled that quite well.

NHL should be able to give fines to referees for bad calls like this to show them they need to smarten up. Especially, after they review the play.

Nice to see the refs double down and get it wrong twice instead of owning up to their mistake.

That is just embarrassing. No accountability from the refs, instead they blame Hathaway for playing until the whistle. An absolute joke NHL. Changed the whole game.

Torts' post game presser could be epic

Someone give the refs a 5 minute misconduct, the late icing call is entirely their fault

I know people complain about officiating normally, but my god this year they are incompetent. They even get it wrong when looking at the replay!

Watch the linesman on the first shot of the video. He is waving the icing (arms going out) and as the hit happens he brings his arm up and blow the whistle after the hit. What the hell was he thinking???

so many things wrong with this: 1. no indication from ref that it was indeed a potential icing call (no arm up) 2. if it was icing it shouldve been blown way earlier, when the puck first crossed the line 3. the whistle comes after the hit so play is technically still live 4. what in the world is Hughes doing? he's not in a playing position by any means making himself super vulnerable. either go hard for the puck or don't go for it, rather than doing some one-handed reach for the puck knowing there are other guys going straight for it. if icing was indeed waived off that is a clean hit and he gets hurt like he did there.

I'm blind, I'm deaf, I wanna be a ref!

Refs covered up their own mistake of not blowing the whistle sooner by giving Hathaway a major penalty… sad

As an avid ref fan, this has been a great season!

NHL officiating at it's best... again! I've played, coached and officiated hockey, not at the NHL level, for over 40 years now and I still can't understand the calls in today's games.

I've been watching and playing hockey for almost 30 years, I shouldn't be baffled by the calls made during the game at this point

Thats not a penalty. Whistle was blown after contact was made. Keep your head up kid

For once, the commentators got this absolutely right. I'm a ref, so it hurts to blame my colleagues, but dammit, the touch icing days are long over. If this is icing, it's gotta be blown dead at the hash marks. And if it's not, this is legal play. And all that ignores the push from Hughes' teammate. The fact that the refs discussed for so long, and listened to Tortorella's yelling for so long, means they know they may be wrong. And the worst part is how they talked themselves into confirming their own call "upon video review". Tough hit, and bad call.

Tortorella should be pissed, he has every right to be. The whistle was egregiously tardy, Hughes assumed it was going to be blown for icing, Hathaway continued to play because he didn't hear one. Siegenthaler maybe slightly pushing Hathaway...meh. No call, I can see. 2 minute penalty, I can see. 5 and a game misconduct?? IDTS. 🤨🤨

Refs are to blame for any and all unnecessary injuries on this play. There is no question about it. Video in 4k HD

1:05 Refs sitting there whispering "we aren't hot mic'd right now yea? we aren't gonna get peeled for this right?"

Furious? This was basically Torts saying hi

I'm not a Flyers fan but this is absolutely horrendous. Glad Hughes is ok after this but damn.. if anything was gonna be called here, maybe 2 for roughing at most. Wow.

Wtf? So are players supposed to know when the ref intended to blow the whistle now live speed?

"Im blind, im deaf, i wanna be a ref"

Even after reviewing / discussing, they get it wrong. Officiating in all sports is horrendous these days.

Decades ago, the linesman used to put his hand up for icing immediately upon the puck being sent from the other side of the red line, and hold it there as a delayed signal until blowing a whistle if a touch-up was made. If something happened to wash out the icing he'd bring his arm down and give the washout signal and play would continue. The goalie would see the linesman with his hand up and put his glove up to let his skaters know to hurry up and chase it down to win the touch-up and that he was not going to leave his crease to handle the puck - but this was 100% based on the signal he was getting from the linesman. Now that they've switched to no-touch icing and the linesman doesn't put his hand up (pointlessly) until he blows the whistle, there's no way for the players on the ice to know that an icing call is imminent and that the should act accordingly.

As a Boston fan, I’d go to war for Torts. One of the only ‘real’ coaches left in the league.

A player still needs to read the situation. Even if it wasn't icing, you have to play the puck not the body there.

30 years ago that wouldn’t have even been a minor.

Tortorella should be furious at Hathaway. Hughes was vulnerable with that blind check from behind. 5min was the right call for boarding

Minor league linesman literally blew the call.

Ref should be suspended for this. This was the whole point of the rule change for icing. What are we doing here?

thats a century too late for that whistle on the icing

I want to know what world the linesman was in when he thought about waiving that off. Luke had a noticeable step on both Flyers players. I don't blame him for letting up there expecting an icing.

That's furious? Thought that was rather tame by his standards.

God damn that was intense. Glad Hughes is ok.

I don’t see the issue? Hughes has got to protect himself there? He’s putting 1 hand towards to puck, he’s engaged in the play, a hit is warranted there

😂🥊😆🇨🇦🇺🇸Absolutely love Torts

Imagine an announcer blaming the officials for a players stupidity

You ever notice how consistent well run organizations never Hire John Totarella?

Honestly in some cases coaches and players should be able to rant off on officials without the fear of getting fined or suspended. While they may not cost teams games, what we have seen over the years is that it's getting worse every year. This call right here helps confirm it.

Tortorella showed a lot of restraint here. He must be doing counciling and behavioral therapy.

he was clearly pushed, like what ?

Look at the body language of the linesman after Hughes is down. He knows.

Hathaway was penalized for “playing hockey while named Hathaway”

"Icing happen when the puck come down. Bang! You know, nobody there. My arm go comes up , the play stop then start up." - Denis Lemieux

100% clean hit!

It's hits like that is the reason here is a no touch icing rule. The officials screwed up big time there.

It's boarding whistle or not. Hughes heard the whistle why not Hathaway ?

That's very awkward to see a former Caps pushing another former Caps into a former Wolverine when I'm a fan of both :/

Where are the Bruce Hoods and John Damicos? The NHL is sure scraping the talent barrel these days. The whistle was late and this was a combination of a late whistle and an awkward fall into the boards.

I hate Torts, and I love seeing him upset. That being said, this is an awful call. Clown show refs

not here to say what the call should have been, but here is the rule in the nhl rulebook Rule 41 - A boarding penalty shall be imposed on any player who checks or pushes a defenseless opponent in such a manner that causes the opponent to hit or impact the boards violently or dangerously. The severity of the penalty, based upon the impact with the boards, shall be at the discretion of the Referee. There is an enormous amount of judgment involved in the application of this rule by the Referees. The onus is on the player applying the check to ensure his opponent is not in a defenseless position and if so, he must avoid or minimize contact. However, in determining whether such contact could have been avoided, the circumstances of the check, including whether the opponent put himself in a vulnerable position immediately prior to or simultaneously with the check or whether the check was unavoidable can be considered. This balance must be considered by the Referees when applying this rule. Any unnecessary contact with a player playing the puck on an obvious “icing” or “off-side” play which results in that player hitting or impacting the boards is “boarding” and must be penalized as such. In other instances where there is no contact with the boards, it should be treated as “charging.”

We the referees for this game have decided that instead of being accountable for our mistake of not blowing the whistle quickly enough, we’re going to deflect blame to the player for our screw up since we don’t have the emotional maturity to own our mistakes.

That wasn’t even boarding to begin with. Don’t understand how the NHL has let officiating get this bad.

I honestly don't even know why they have video review anymore. They get more calls wrong now than they get right it seems like.

You are taught to play until the whistle. Linesman never blew the whistle, play is live. The official created the situation. And admitted no culpability or blame. That was not a penalty and it was not a game misconduct and it certainly was not a major. And Luke should have had a match penalty for embellishment. The officiating in the NHL is approaching a joke.

this call is the exact scenario with Cale Makar and Mcann in the playoffs. you cant hand out majors and ejections because you dont know how to whistle a play in time. god awful officiating in sports these days and it's rigging games.

I love how Siegenthaler grabs Hathaway and gets all these cheap shots in right in front of the refs and nothing happens to these incompetents.

The icing call was definitely blown, but that doesn't change the fact that it's still a boarding penalty any day of the week. He didn't get boarding because it was called icing...he would have got that even if it was waved off. Boarding that results in an injury is going to be a major every time. You can, and Torts argued that it's somehow up to Hughes to protect himself, but the responsibility lies on the attacking player, not the player being fouled. That's the rule.

I've watched very few well officiated games in the NHL this year. Refs have been the most pathetic I've seen in a very long time.

Intent to blow the whistle here is like intent to brake at a red light. Doesn't actually count at all and doing the job would've prevented a collision.

"Keep your head up, kid." Always play to the whistle.

Its a boarding penalty not a roughing call after the whistle you can board somebody before during nd after the whistle this has to be flyers home announcing.

Players don't know how to protect themselves along the boards anymore.

What was there to punish Hathaway?

I don’t even know what would compare to this as the worst call I’ve ever seen

Years ago a lot more contact,different game now!We need more good hip checks,open ice clean checks,razzle dazzle,enter at your own risk!

A linesman take responsibility for their screw up and admit it? Nah, screw up harder by reviewing it and standing by the call. What a joke

Nice to see torts mellowed out a bit over the years

LOL the reflection at 0:11 makes it seems like a ghost randomly appears and is wrestling with the Devils player in the scrum.

I didn't think they could get the call any worse than that, then they call the WRONG call on a non major. Yikes.

a clean hit. This is not ice ballet or figure skating.

Another reason why this call was so bad and few people are mentioning it. The boarding call by the NHL rule book is a hit from behind. Hathaway hit him in the chest. By rule, boarding actually does not even apply.

Luke Hughes scored the game winner in OT.

What a joke of a ref! You play to the whistle. That's what 19 did. Ref's blew the call! F in my hockey book😡

Luke Ends up scoring the GWG

I could not BELIEVE that call. First, they call the 5-minute major. Then after reviewing it, they give him a major AND a game misconduct? That was disgusting and completely out of line. The whole thing was the fault of the idiot linesman who didn't blow the whistle for an icing call when he should've. I've seen blown calls and bad officiating before, but this BS tonight takes the cake.

Not boarding. How embarrassing for these refs. And I am a Rangers fan so unbiased.

I don’t know how Torts kept stayed calm as he did ,that ref is just shy of BLIND NJ player pushed him into Quinn.

Hughes needs to wake up before he’s hurt bad, twice now getting fucken bundled not expecting a hit

People are actually acting like this is a soccer game and not the NHL. Any time your near a player from the other team, you should brace for, and expect contact.

The title focuses on Torts but then they cut the video short? He's still going as it ends there

I like how the refs thought the best thing to do was double down on their mistake, and make another mistake giving it a major penalty. What a joke.

Ranger fan here. No penalty in my opinion. Referee blew the call. Hathaway playing to the whistle and the whistle was blown late.

When did Angel Hernandez get an NHL ref job?

The officiating in all sports has gone into the crapper.

"I think Siegenthaler may have pushed Hathaway a little bit..." what an effing home color guy comment! You should be embarassed!!

A line scuffle for a hit like that? Pathetic!

NJD broadcasters, like the Philly broadcasters here, pointed out that the linesman was late with the whistle.

Refs protecting a blown linesman's call.

Hughes is going to be the next Crosby. if you hit him too hard penalty will be called

Is that not a boarding? Dangerous place relative to the boards

The logic by the commentators is comical. The call was for boarding... it doesn't matter whether Hathaway played to the whistle or not. That hit was the definition of boarding. Was it a hockey play made in the moment? Yes. Was it boarding? Absolutely. No need to talk about how soft the game/officiating has become. That would've been boarding even in the 80s'.

its like the police screws up the stopping lights and then blame the drivers for crashing into each other

The call was BOARDING. Not a late hit. It was boarding.

If you think that's what Torts looks like "furious," then you don't know Torts.

Hypothetically if it wasnt icing, could it be called a charging penatly?