Last night's game between the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Chicago Blackhawks couldn't have ended much worse than it did for John Tortorella and his squad. A quick look at the box score and it appears to be a evenly matched 3-2 shootout win for the Blackhawks. What the box score wouldn't show you however, is just how controversial this game really was.
To give everyone a quick recap of what happened: The Blue Jackets and Blackhawks headed to overtime tied 2-2, after the Blue Jackets had blown a 2-0 lead. With 19.2 seconds left on the clock in overtime, the whistle blew. However, instead of the clock remaining at 19.2 seconds, it dropped down to 18.1. Both Tortorella and team captain, Nick Foligno told the refs about the situation instantly, assuming they would put the correct time back on the clock. The refs ultimately decided to keep it at 18.1. This may not seem overly important except for the fact that Columbus defenceman Zach Werenski scored what would have been the game winner less than a second after the clock expired. Had the time been added on, Werenski's shot would have crossed the line before time expired.
Columbus ultimately went on to lose in the shootout. To make matters even worse, their starting goaltenderJoonas Korpisalo was hurt in the shootout while facing Jonathan Toews . Between losing the game, as well as their number one goalie, John Tortorella was more than fed up and gave this phenomenal post-game press conference:
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Because of Tortorella's meltdown, along with how the game ended, Colin Campbell was forced to step in and release a statement. Campbell, who is the NHL Director of Hockey Ops, had this to say about the issue, as well as Tortorella's comments:
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Regardless of whether or not Tortorella was right to go off on the officials as well as the NHL, there is little doubt that he will receive a punishment for this. It will likely be just a fine for Tortorella, but that has not been disclosed yet.
