Quote:
Originally Posted by AremRed
Wasn't that a 4th line versus Kessel's 1st line? In this case Tortorella fired back with his own 4th, citing safety reasons. I can see some temptation to get a free shift with your best players against their worst (assuming they want to play hockey), but the likelihood for injury is very high.
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Coaches match 1st lines against 4th all the time, especially after an icing call when the 4th line cannot change. This was the opening faceoff, if VAN wins it with their first line, they can hem the goons in their own zone for minutes....but Torts has been trying to make Vancouver "tougher".
In the BUF/TOR incident, Rolston was the visiting team, and he put out the goon squad. randy Carlyle had the choice to respond and didn't.
Torts doesn't back down from this type of challenge. Peter DeBoer of NJ tried this with him too, and Torts responded the same way...including his insane ranting.