With Flyers ranked 30th in goals, Tortorella benches his top scorer vs. Rangers originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
VOORHEES, N.J. — The Flyers are scoring 2.39 goals per game, the third fewest in the NHL.
They’ve scored two or fewer goals 18 times through 31 games.
They have three wins over their last 19 games (3-11-5), a stretch in which they’ve scored just 2.16 goals per game.
With the Flyers’ opportunity to win consecutive games for the first time since Nov. 5-8, John Tortorella has benched his leading scorer. Kevin Hayes, who has 29 points in 31 games, will be a healthy scratch Saturday when the Flyers play his former team the Rangers at the Wells Fargo Center (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP).
The decision comes on the heels of Tortorella sitting Hayes for the entire third period of the Flyers’ 2-1 win Thursday over the Devils at the Prudential Center. It marked the second time the head coach glued Hayes to the pine for a full third period.
After Thursday’s game, Tortorella did not want to explain his decision to sit Hayes in the third period of a 1-1 game.
“Oh, I’m not going to talk [about that],” Tortorella said. “It was my decision not to play him, but I’m not going to get too involved in that.”
The head coach remained mostly tight-lipped Saturday morning about the reasoning behind his decision to bench Hayes against the Rangers.
“That’s between Kevin and I,” Tortorella said.
Hayes partook in the Flyers’ morning skate. He declined to comment.
The 30-year-old forward committed a neutral-zone turnover late in the second period against New Jersey.
Tortorella had moved Hayes from center to winger at the end of November because of his struggles in the defensive zone.
“He knows,” the head coach said then. “Kevin’s trying. This isn’t a player that’s stubborn. He cares and is trying to be the best he can be. I think he has bad habits. It’s not just from one year, two years, it’s probably throughout his career.”
When Hayes sat during the third period of the Flyers’ 3-0 loss to the Sharks back in October, he didn’t feel a conversation with Tortorella was absolutely necessary. Both Tortorella and Hayes quickly turned the page. Hayes answered the next game with two assists in the Flyers’ 4-3 win over the Panthers.
“I respect everything that Torts brings to this room, I respect all of his ideas and all of his coaching stuff,” Hayes said Oct. 27. “Obviously when you get benched, you don’t agree with him. I don’t think I’ll ever agree with a coach that benches me.
“I don’t think I would seek out a coach in Game 6. I don’t think that’s the right timing, he’s a new coach, we’re getting to know each other. I would be a little bit more concerned if it was Game 30 or — I’d probably seek him out then. Game 6, it’s early in the season, I think I’m doing some things the correct way. We haven’t talked too much, but I think that’s a good thing.”
Tortorella opened up a tad about balancing the decision of scratching a player like Hayes knowing the offense-needy Flyers are losing his scoring.
“It’s kind of a big picture in my mind as far as team concept,” Tortorella said. “Again, I don’t want to get into a long conversation about it, but it’s a legitimate question.
“I’ll put it to you this way — I can’t keep looking by things because we’re worried about scoring. I’ve got to look at the big picture of what this team is going to be, what the standard is of how we have to play. That far outweighs losing some offense in a particular game. I’ll give you that.”
Hayes leads the Flyers in points (29), assists (20) and shots (89). He entered Saturday projected to finish with 24 goals and a career-high 77 points in 82 games.
Turns out, he won’t play all 82 games. He’ll sit tonight as the Flyers try to score without him.
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