Columbus Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella was not happy with the referees after his team’s 3-2 shootout loss to the Chicago Blackhawks and he let them know it in his post-game press conference.
“All this (expletive) technology right? The technology and getting things right. The stubbornness tonight by the officials and by the league and Toronto, however it’s supposed to (expletive) work, (it) screws us. It’s ridiculous,” Tortorella said before slapping the podium in front of him and walking out of the room without taking any questions.
The play to which Tortorella was referring occurred late in overtime. The Blackhawks took a too-many-men on the ice penalty with 19 seconds remaining in the extra frame but one extra second was taken off the clock after the penalty was called. A correction to the clock wasn’t made and the Blue Jackets had a goal taken away because Zach Werenski’s shot didn’t go in before time expired on overtime.
You can watch both plays in the video below.
To make matters worse, Blue Jackets goalie Joonas Korpisalo suffered what appeared to be a serious lower-body injury in the shootout and had to be helped off the ice.
“So the chain of events, if it was done right, we don’t lose our goalie and we win the hockey game,” Tortorella said.
NHL director of hockey operations Colin Campbell spoke to Aaron Portzline of The Athletic Sunday night and said the comments were “unprofessional along with unacceptable.” Campbell also told Portzline that he had spoken to Tortorella and Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen, adding that the NHL is “dealing with it.”
Campbell also released a statement explaining the on-ice decision, per Brian Hedger of the Columbus Dispatch:
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