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John Tortorella apologizes for walking off at press conference

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Cooper Godin
March 26, 2024  (12:56)
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Philadelphia Flyers head coach John Tortorella was apologetic on Tuesday morning for his actions following Sunday's loss to the Florida Panthers.

On Sunday, the Philadelphia Flyers turned to 27-year-old Felix Sandstrom between the pipes for their game against the Florida Panthers to the second half of a back-to-back. With Carter Hart no longer with the team at this time and Cal Peterson in the AHL, Samuel Ersson has played the majority of the games this season for Philadelphia including on Saturday against the Boston Bruins. So on Sunday, it was Sandstrom's turn between the pipes, only his fifth game in the NHL this season.

The Flyers limited the Florida Panthers to only 14 shots on goal during the entire game, but Felix Sandstrom allowed three goals, making only 11 saves and after the game, head coach John Tortorella was asked about his performance.

Instead of answering the question asked to him about Felix Sandstrom, Tortorella raised his arms and eyebrows and after about eight seconds of silence, walks away from the podium.

This morning, Tortorella apologized to reporters for his actions on Sunday and says that it was mistake and his body language was wrong when asked about Sandstrom's performance.

"I made a terrible mistake with you guys the other night. You might have asked me about Sanny. My body language was wrong. What I should have said to you was he tried. Sanny tried. Things happened this year that put our goaltending situation into a state of flux. Sanny did not deserve that from me. You had the perfect right to ask that question. He did not deserve that from me. It was wrong." John Tortorella said.

Sandstrom, who has been serving as the backup to Samuel Ersson, has a record of 1-2-0 in five games this season, with a 3.87 goals against average and an .823 save percentage.

While Tortorella's actions certainly weren't right on Sunday night, he certainly is allowed to be frustrated with how Sandstrom played. The Flyers need consistency between now and the end of the regular season if they want to lock up their first playoff spot since 2020.

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