CBC-Sports

Tortorella’s reaction Avery-like

April 26, 2009 08:23 PM | Posted by   Craig Simpson  

In his benching of Sean Avery for Game 5 in Washington on Friday, Rangers head coach John Tortorella was sending a clear message to his controversial forward and his team: No one person is more important than the team, and undisciplined play and selfish penalties will not be tolerated no matter how big the game or how important the player.

Avery’s stupid penalties nearly cost the Rangers Game 4. His past antics that had drawn so much controversy had been creeping back into his game and Tortorella needed to rein him in. Tortorella couldn’t compromise his own credibility by putting Avery back out there again.

Accountability paramount for a coach

Accountability is something that every coach strives to achieve and it’s a key element to building a Stanley Cup championship team. Unfortunately for Tortorella, all of the accountability and respect he gained by standing up to Avery, was destroyed by his own actions at the end of for Game 5.

Tortorella’s altercation with the fans in Washington, his spraying of water and tossing of the bottle into the crowd, cost the Ranger bench boss much more than the one-game suspension handed down by the NHL. It cost him his credibility with his team.

How can you preach accountability and discipline and criticize the antics of Avery and then become so unravelled that you cost your team their head coach for Game 6 of the playoffs? In one regrettable Avery-like incident, he has lost so much.

In the biggest game of the year, with a chance to eliminate Washington, Tortorella’s undisciplined actions cost him and his team a chance to move on. I can only imagine how uncomfortable he must have felt having to sit up in the press box and watch his team be dominated in a 5-3 loss to the Capitals. John Tortorella is a good coach and a good man, but I doubt that he has ever experienced a worse feeling in his career than the way he felt Sunday afternoon at the Garden.

In losing the game, the Rangers now face the daunting task of trying to win a Game 7 on the road. In losing his cool and getting suspended, Tortorella has lost some of his credibility and the accountability of his team.

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