Another benching for York as Flyers are routed by Maple Leafs originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
John Tortorella benched Cam York early in a 1-1 game Tuesday night and the Flyers went on to lose, 7-2, to the Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena.
The Flyers (28-36-9) have dropped six straight, matching their season-worst skid. Their other six-gamer was in October.
Even worse, they’ve lost 11 of their last 12 games (1-10-1) and have been outscored 52-21 over that span. Tortorella’s club has won just six times in its last 25 games (6-16-3).
With the Flyers in full-on rebuild mode to finish this season, they’re just one point ahead of the Sabres for the Eastern Conference’s worst record. Buffalo has played three fewer games.
Ryan Poehling and Sean Couturier provided the Flyers’ goals Tuesday night.
The Flyers have been dominated by the Maple Leafs (43-25-3). They’re 1-9-2 in their last 12 matchups with Toronto. The lone victory came last season when Scott Laughton recorded the game-winning goal.
• Tortorella is not exactly helping his cause here.
The last two games, the Flyers were outworked, outplayed and outscored a combined 14-6.
But on top of that, the head coach benched his young, top-pair defenseman Tuesday night. Tortorella played York only 3:50 minutes, sitting him for the rest of the night after the Maple Leafs scored a game-tying goal in the first period. York quickly lost a puck battle behind the net before John Tavares’ shot went off his leg and past Samuel Ersson.
As York was stapled to the pine, Toronto went on to score five more goals before the Flyers finally answered.
In 2022-23, their first season together, Tortorella really pushed York. He sent him to the minors before the Flyers even reached their final cuts of training camp. Since then, York had been one of the Flyers’ most improved players.
But this season has not gone well. York missed 13 games because of a shoulder injury and had been healthy scratched twice before Tuesday night’s in-game benching.
“I’ll admit, when I sent him down, I tried to pick a fight with him when I sent him down, I was so upset with his camp,” Tortorella said two weeks ago. “I think he went to Lehigh, he put the time in, I felt he had a chip on his shoulder coming back here, mainly at me. I was so proud of him as far as where he brought his game to; there is no reason why I can’t still look for that. And I’m going to continue to look for that.”
Tortorella is challenging York again, but the timing of this simply isn’t good. Not only are the Flyers losing games by lopsided scores as they stumble to the finish line, but York is also in a contract year and due for a considerable raise. And he’s getting benched? This can’t be helping negotiations for the summer.
It’s just not a good look at all for Tortorella. But he’s sticking to his word. He’s not going to care about optics.
• The Flyers faced Laughton for the first time since he was traded to the Maple Leafs earlier this month.
Laughton, after spending parts of 12 seasons in Philadelphia, is playing a depth role for Toronto. He’s still looking for his first point with the Maple Leafs, but he had five hits and a blocked shot against his old club.
• Ersson gave up the seven goals on 30 shots.
The Flyers were not sharp in front of him. They were outshot by double digits and Toronto had five more blocked shots.
Two days ago, the Flyers lost to the Blackhawks, 7-4, with Ivan Fedotov in net.
Anthony Stolarz, a former Flyers goaltender, made 17 saves on 19 shots for the Maple Leafs.
• Garnet Hathaway (undisclosed) and Rasmus Ristolainen (upper body) remained out.
Aleksei Kolosov was recalled from AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley, but did not suit up. Fedotov was Ersson’s backup.
• After going 0-4-1 on their road trip, the Flyers return home for a matchup Thursday against the Canadiens (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP).
