Following a 5-2 loss to the Maple Leafs on Wednesday John Tortorella didn’t mince words over his early frustrations with his players.

When asked about how confident he is that mistakes will be fixed and play will improve, Tortorella had a quick answer.

“It’s our job. We’re gonna keep on working at it, for the most part I thought our guys had a lot of try. Some guys, no. That’s where some of my frustration is. Not so much in the result, but the effort that’s put in sometimes.”

We can speculate all day about whose effort level he’s frustrated with, but in reality it’s probably multiple guys and some being obvious candidates. The follow-up question was about how the team has been coming together after starting 5-3-2 under John Tortorella.

“It hasn’t come together. It’s still a ways away, that’s part of our job as a coaching staff to bring it together— found a way to win some games with some really good goaltending that’s given us an opportunity. We still have a ton of work to do.”

A recurring theme in John Tortorella’s press conferences is that one of his main frustrations is the teams unwillingness to make plays. He attributes the team getting hemmed in due to a fear of making a mistake and not going after the play.

There’s truth in that, and there’s also truth in his “It hasn’t come together” comment. The Flyers are constantly being saved by Carter Hart and aren’t winning games in ways that make you confident. Ask any Flyers fan and they will tell you getting outshot by 15+ nightly isn’t sustainable.

Tortorella said he sees flashes of the offense clicking periodically, but never for an entire 60 minutes. He was also asked if he’s seen any positives to takeaway from the first ten games.

“Oh yeah, and I’m not going to name names. I’m really happy about some guys effort tonight, how they handled certain situations, and on other side there’s some situations that absolutely disgust me. Those are the things we have to work through. When you’re building a team and looking to grow your players, you’re also looking for which players are simply not going to be apart of it. That separates itself as you go through this process here.”

Well, that’s interesting. This was the second time he mentioned loving some players effort while being upset with others. Especially in a question that was asked to list the positives, you can tell John Tortorella is frustrated. I’m very interested to see how this plays out down the line and who exits/enters the lineup.

The final question was how he felt after the second Tavares goal which he clearly looked angry after.

“You can watch it, it speaks for itself. I’ll leave it that way.”

JOHN TAVARES 🚨🚨

SENT HIM TO THE SHADOW REALM pic.twitter.com/O1PPmcrvtT

— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) November 3, 2022

That it does John.

Mandatory Credit: Philadelphia Flyers/NHL