Tempers flare as Flyers get crushed, 7-0, by Tampa Bay

TAMPA, Fla. — If you missed the first 11 minutes of the Flyers’ Saturday night showdown against the Tampa Bay Lightning, well, you missed a lot.

Actually, let’s tweak that. You missed everything.

The Lightning struck multiple times — four, to be exact — on their way to a 7-0 win against the Flyers. There was also a heavyweight bout between Nic Deslauriers and Tampa Bay’s Austin Watson.

But then Ronnie Attard was called for tripping on a questionable call — so questionable that one of the referees originally called it a penalty on Lightning forward Mikey Eyssimont. During the Flyers’ penalty kill, Garnet Hathaway got a 10-minute misconduct for shoving Anthony Cirelli during a stoppage of play while headed to a defensive-zone faceoff.

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And after Brayden Point scored, the fireworks came from Flyers bench. John Tortorella, who many have commented has seemed to soften a tad this season, went off on referee Wes McCauley. Tortorella could be seen yelling after the goal, seeming to blame the referee.

This led to McCauley tossing the 65-year-old bench boss. To which, he refused.

While waving his hands he could be seen saying, “Not a [expletive] chance,” as Flyers goalie Sam Ersson was pulled for Felix Sandström. Tortorella then appeared to say, “I’m not going. I’m staying right [expletive] here,” as he pointed to the bench.

Tortorella finally left, after much consternation and expletives, and the game continued. But things didn’t get any better for the Flyers. Although they mustered 25 shots, only a handful were quality scoring chances. They were dominated by a team that was coming off a 6-3 loss to the Calgary Flames on Thursday and were surely looking for a little revenge after a 6-2 loss to the Orange and Black at the Wells Fargo Center on Feb. 27.

Egor Zamula did not play due to illness, and the Flyers skated with just five defensemen. Adam Ginning was going to be an emergency recall from Lehigh and went to the airport, but due to the weather could not travel. The Phantoms were in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Saturday night. ... Erik Johnson and Denis Gurianov each made their debut after being acquired on Friday before the trade deadline. ... Sean Couturier dropped the gloves in the second period with Matt Dumba for his first fight in a regular-season game since 2018, according to Hockey Fights. ... The Lightning honored the 2004 Stanley Cup team before puck drop, including Tortorella, who was the team’s head coach.

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The Flyers host the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday at the Wells Fargo Center (7 p.m., NBCSP).