Flyers pull goalie approximately 1 minute after being eliminated, gift Caps playoff spot

[LeProspector]

I’m just happy the Wings didn’t make it. The whole season was for nothing.

 

[BB88]

Also a must win game for Detroit and they go overtime vs Montreal

Maybe play better and win in regulation time

 

[Dirty Dan]

Sad situation for these teams but if your sub 95 points you sometimes need a little luck. The Isles could have lost a game here or there and been eliminated today too, its just too complicated due to all the tiebreakers

 

[ricky0034]

Sad situation for these teams but if your sub 95 points you sometimes need a little luck. The Isles could have lost a game here or there and been eliminated today too, its just too complicated due to all the tiebreakers

yeah realistically the Wings were already fairly lucky to get as close as they did with 91 points, that usually isn't enough to make it

personally speaking that stops me from feeling too upset about things and I mostly just feel amused by how dramatic it all was

 

[Kimota]

Detroit scored with 3 seconds left to knock Philadelphia out of the playoffs

At the exact same moment, Philadelphia allowed the Caps to score an ENG and knock Detroit out of the playoffs

That's why Torto is a freakin legend.

 

[Pavels Dog]

Why would it need to be more decisive? Caps got a point. Had Wings gotten that point, they'd be in. But they didn't.

Blaming someone else for your team coming up short is kind of silly but whatever suits you. It's certainly not like Wings had everything on their own hands for like 10 different times in the last 2 months.

Once you accept that luck is a factor you realize that it's dumb to talk about it as if Caps were in full control and were somehow more deserving/better rather than just having a little bit more luck.
The very situation that created their Empty net goal to clinch isn't somehow the Caps managing a perfect gameplan, it's just pure dumb luck that the Flyers coaching staff didn't get a score update a few seconds faster.

 

[JimmyApples]

You're in need of a lobotomy if you believe the Caps (worst goal differential of any playoff team in 40 years) "deserves" to be in the playoffs.

Let’s face it: None of the teams battling for WC2 deserved a playoff spot. They’re all terrible.

 

[powerbomb]

 

[HFpapi]

I don't understand the conspiracy here?

Assuming Torts wasn't checking his NHL.com app on the bench and was paying zero attention to the Wings game, Flyers needed a regulation win and so pulling the goalie in a 1-1 game made perfect sense.

What am I missing?

Torts doesn't seem like the type who would appreciate being told by a staffer in the heat of the moment that his team was eliminated nor does it make sense for him to have a preference about who makes it into the playoffs.

 

[trick9]

Let’s face it: None of the teams battling for WC2 deserved a playoff spot. They’re all terrible.

Shhh... Tortorella screwed the Red Wings Stanley Cup -run here.

Them losing 15 of their last 23 games had no effect in this. Or that in the same stretch they went 0-3-2 against their direct competition (Isles, Pens, Caps).

 

[PJGooch]

I don't understand the conspiracy here?

Assuming Torts wasn't checking his NHL.com app on the bench and was paying zero attention to the Wings game, Flyers needed a regulation win and so pulling the goalie in a 1-1 game made perfect sense.

What am I missing?

Torts doesn't seem like the type who would appreciate being told by a staffer in the heat of the moment that his team was eliminated nor does it make sense for him to have a preference about who makes it into the playoffs.

I just think a bunch of people are really sore that the hockey world wasn't gifted the opportunity to see Tortorella sleeper-hold the poor front-office intern tasked with running onto the bench to badger him about the DET goal in the final minutes of an elimination game.

 

[Pandaman11]

Yeah. No kidding. They weren’t eliminated yet. What is this thread?

NBC Philly was showing a replay of Detroit tying the game with 7s left, thereby eliminating the Flyers. One minute after the replay, Torts pulls the goalie. One would think that in 2024, they'd have the necessary technology to find out what's going on.

So either they really have bad/slow technology, or they knew and were trolling the Pens. Everything else is BS.

(personally, I don't care, my team is in the West anyway)

 

[sbhnur]

There were a lot games it actually didn't matter if the Flyers got someone standing on the goal line, so it's a legit approach playing without.

 

[Pandaman11]

Assuming Torts wasn't checking his NHL.com app on the bench and was paying zero attention to the Wings game, Flyers needed a regulation win and so pulling the goalie in a 1-1 game made perfect sense.

What am I missing?

You're missing that at 99.9%, the Flyers have staff who were watching the Detroit games and were in live contact with the bench (not with Torts, but an assistant). Probably the same video analysts who can immediately check and recommend whether to challenge a situation or not. And now they weren't able to forward this information quickly enough, while the NBC commentators had already known for over a minute?

 

[Pavels Dog]

Let’s face it: None of the teams battling for WC2 deserved a playoff spot. They’re all terrible.

Imo there are no good teams in the NHL. They're all terrible.

 

[ricky0034]

NBC Philly was showing a replay of Detroit tying the game with 7s left, thereby eliminating the Flyers. One minute after the replay, Torts pulls the goalie. One would think that in 2024, they'd have the necessary technology to find out what's going on.

So either they really have bad/slow technology, or they knew and were trolling the Pens. Everything else is BS.

(personally, I don't care, my team is in the West anyway)

or maybe Torts was focused on actually coaching his team at the end of the game instead of keeping his eyes glued to the score of other games at all times?

what would even be the point of monitoring the Wings game closely enough to notice that fast? just to avoid losing face with random people on the internet for pulling the Goalie even though his team is technically eliminated already?

 

[JimmyApples]

Imo there are no good teams in the NHL. They're all terrible.

There are plenty of good teams, they’re just not fighting for a historically bad WC2

 

[bobholly39]

Do you think the Flyers are watching the box scores while in the middle of a f***ing game?

Yeah. I guarantee people upstairs were watching, and communicating down.

It's possible this is just what people are saying - Flyers tried to win because they had to, and it didn't work out, nothing to do with Detroit.

But I honestly wouldn't put it past Tortorella of all people to have done this on purpose, just because lol. Which would be hilarious

 

[John Price]

thank you torts

 

[HFpapi]

You're missing that at 99.9%, the Flyers have staff who were watching the Detroit games and were in live contact with the bench (not with Torts, but an assistant). Probably the same video analysts who can immediately check and recommend whether to challenge a situation or not. And now they weren't able to forward this information quickly enough, while the NBC commentators had already known for over a minute?

This POV doesn't account for or explain why Torts would give two ****s about who makes playoffs between Wings and Caps.

It's far more likely Torts had a single focus on his task at hand and what he could control (regulation win) while disregarding all else.

The "he knew he was eliminated and then intentionally pulled the goalie as a result" implies he has some motive to screw Detroit over.

 

[hatterson]

Anyone know if there’s anywhere that keeps track of real life timestamps of events in game?

I’d love to know what time Philly pulled their goalie and what time the faceoff after the Detroit goal happened (which is what really matters in this age of challenges and replay).

Obviously the conspiracy theory is dumb, I’m just curious how dumb.

 

[MOGlLNY]

If you really think the league conspired against the red wings you’re an remoron. Just really really tough luck with the matchup being what it was.

 

[NyQuil]

Relying on some other team to make the post-season doesn't tend to work out well.

 

[nbwingsfan]

Do you think the Flyers are watching the box scores while in the middle of a f***ing game?

I’m sure torts had someone in his ear telling him the scores of the game in the intermission but yeah I doubt he was getting updates with just a few mins left in the 3rd.

It suck’s being eliminated that way, but it is what it is and you can’t blame Torts.

I blame Washingtons snooze fest, lock it down hockey backed by a goalie playing great.

Or I blame our coach

Or I blame 7 straight loses

Or I blame back to back loses to Arizona

Or I blame back to back loses to Washington, including an OTL to them that ended up being the difference in playoffs or no playoffs

Or I blame an absolute collapse to SJ.

There were a hell of a lot more instances that mattered more than Torts, probably unknowingly, pulling the goalie for no reason

 

[895]

Was Philly actually mathematically eliminated here?

Is there not some scenario where Detroit is forced to pull their goalie in OT to win like Minnesota did and therefore risking an ENG against themselves and losing their OT point?

Tortorella made the right call to pull the goalie either way. You can't fault him for that.