The Philadelphia Flyers lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-4 in overtime on Thursday night. Despite both teams sitting well outside of the playoff picture, the Keystone State Rivalry still delivered. Evgeni Malkin’s four points led Pittsburgh to victory but was not the headline of the game. Flyers coach John Tortorella exploded at the refs after a penalty was decreased following an injury to Garnet Hathaway.
Torts is furious after Boko Imama is assessed a minor for interference on Garnet Hathaway, and Hathaway needed assistance off the ice pic.twitter.com/oXX10jvySl
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) February 28, 2025
Penguins forward Boko Imama banged into Hathaway when he did not have the puck, a textbook interference penalty. But Hathaway went down and stayed down, needing to be helped off the ice. The refs originally called a major penalty on Imama, giving them the ability to review it. When they decreased the penalty to a minor, Tortorella lost his mind.
The Penguins-Flyers game was on ESPN, which means former official Dave Jackson was able to chime in. “I think because there was no head contact whatsoever,” he responded to the question of why it was decreased. The Flyers did get a powerplay out of it and scored, with Matvei Michkov netting the 19th goal of his rookie season.
Hathaway did not return to the game, leading to concern about the Flyers’ forward. Philly is back in action on the road against the league-best Winnipeg Jets on Saturday. With the trade deadline inching closer and the playoffs slipping away, Philly needs wins badly. Without Hathaway, that would be much tougher.
The 33-year-old Hathaway has been a key part of the Flyers core since coming over from the Boston Bruins. He signed a two-year deal to join Philadelphia before the 2023-24 season and re-upped for two more years, locking him in through the 2026-27 season. He will not be traded before the deadline but many of his teammates could be, especially after Thursday’s loss.
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