The Philadelphia Flyers head coach, John Tortorella, says he has lost an old-school battle with rookie Matvei Michkov. Known for how little he likes “The Michigan”, Tortorella spoke about Michkov and his attempts at the lacrosse move during his most recent press conference.
Tortorella reports that Michkov has made numerous attempts at the lacrosse move this season, despite Torts’ attempts to dissuade him. However, it clearly hasn’t gotten through to the young Russian forward. He had this to say during his press conference.
“I’ve lost the battle, right. I don’t think it should be in our game, but I’ve lost that battle. I had talked to him earlier in the year when he was doing it every time—it was just turnovers. The thing I want Mich to understand is he’s such a good player moving the puck and passing the puck. When he’s behind the net, he’s dangerous to make plays. What am I going to do, say don’t do it? What I did was say, You need to understand there are other plays to be made there too. Because a number of the times that you tried it earlier in the year, all they were, were turnovers.”
Tortorella Changing Old School Ways For Michkov?
Tortorella seems to be adapting more to what the everyday NHL is like. If there were five years ago, Michkov would have been glued to the bench until he changed his ways. Today, Michkov is playing nightly and logging big minutes while leading all NHL rookies in scoring.
Torts did have an iconic line in his media availability, though. “I’ve lost the da– battle on that, and I’m not going to try and fight it.”
Is this the last we will hear about Torts and Michkov’s lacrosse goal attempts? Will Michkov actually start to look for other options rather than going for the goal?
I guess only time will tell what happens next.
