Blue Jackets eye 9th straight, milestone win for Tortorella (Dec 18, 2016)
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - John Tortorella has a chance to reach a coaching milestone Sunday night against the team that fired him.
The Columbus coach will post his 500th National Hockey League career win if the Blue Jackets (19-5-4) beat his former Vancouver Canucks (13-6-2) at Rogers Arena.
"It means I've been in the league a long time," Tortorella told the Columbus Dispatch.
He repeatedly contended the milestone will mean "nothing," but this season has been quite meaningful for the Blue Jackets. They have won eight straight games - one shy of a franchise-record winning streak - and are among the top teams in the Eastern Conference.
Tortorella's second campaign in Columbus is another chapter in his redemption story. It began in Vancouver in 2014-15 after he and former Canucks coach Alain Vigneault swapped teams.
Vigneault went to the New York Rangers after the fiery Tortorella was unceremoniously dismissed in the Big Apple following battles with players, particularly Brad Richards, and media. Supposedly mellower, Tortorella was suspended for six games by the NHL after (by his own admission) he tried to "get" then Calgary Flames coach Bob Hartley between periods following a first-period brawl in Vancouver.
In other words, Tortorella wanted to beat up Hartley. But the Canucks were never the same after the January 2014 incident.
Vancouver's new president of hockey operations, Trevor Linden, fired Tortorella after his first season, and it looked like he would not get another chance to coach in the NHL. It also looked like the Canucks would be on the hook financially for the four years left on Tortorella's contract. But Blue Jackets president John Davidson, who was a TV broadcaster in New York while Tortorella was an assistant with the Rangers during an earlier stint 20 years ago, hired him to replace Todd Richards only seven games into the 2015-16 season.
Now, the Blue Jackets appear to be a lock to make the playoffs, and Tortorella should easily surpass the 34-33-8 record he posted in his first season in Columbus. He is also a strong candidate for coach of the year.
Thus far, Tortorella, who led the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 2004 Stanley Cup title and ranks as the NHL's all-time winningest U.S.-born coach, has kept his emotions in check.
"Now, he's earned the perception -- and we talked extensively about that, too," Davidson, referring to the coach's hotheadedness, told the Globe and Mail. "But we wanted someone that's won, someone with a passion for the game and someone who wanted to prove he could still do it. He checked all the boxes."
The Blue Jackets are also checking several boxes on the ice. Sergei Bobrovsky, who ranks among the league's best goaltenders with a sparkling 1.97 goals-against average, has won seven of the eight games during the win streak. In the past nine games, the Blue Jackets have allowed only 13 goals - never more than two per outing.
Offensively, the Blue Jackets, who have no superstars, are getting most of their points from lesser lights. Cam Atkinson, a 27-year-old Riverside, Conn., native who was drafted by Columbus in the eighth round (157th overall) in 2008, leads the team with 29 points. Alexander Wennberg, a 22-year-old Swede drafted 14th overall by Columbus in 2013, ranks second with 25 points and Brandon Saad, a former Chicago Blackhawks pest who is in his second season with Columbus, sits third with 23.
Clearly, Tortorella is getting a lot -- if not the most yet - from his youth-laden players.
"I think we're much more comfortable with one another," he told the Globe and Mail. "I'm not so sure if it's about roles. It's just about a standard of play for the team -- individually, but as a team, too. You have to raise the standard if you want to compete in this league."
Meanwhile, the Canucks, hard-pressed to make the playoffs as Tortorella's mild mannered replacement Willie Desjardins faces speculation about his future, will try to prove that they have also raised their standard.
"(The Blue Jackets) have been playing really hard as a team," said Vancouver winger Loui Eriksson. "Everyone knows the kind of coach they have there. They've been doing a good job. It's definitely going to be a tough challenge for us."
While Tortorella's redemption story continues, the Canucks will try to show that they have redeemed themselves following a 1-4 road trip that ended before their home win over Tampa Bay.
"We've shown we can be a good team," said Vancouver defenseman Luca Sbisa. "We beat (Tampa Bay) twice in (approximately) a week. We showed we can do it. We just have to find consistency. (Sunday's game) is going to be a test again. (The Blue Jackets) are probably the best team in the league right now. It's nice to get the win (over Tampa Bay) and go into that game with a good feeling."
The Canucks will feel even better if they can prevent their former bench boss from reaching a coaching milestone.
