Flyers, Lightning Fire Slap Shots Away From Ice

Philadelphia Flyer Coach Ken Hitchcock got another message from Tampa Bay Lightning Coach John Tortorella on Sunday, Tortorella saying -- again -- that Hitchcock should just shut up.

“Is he back out of that gopher hole again?” Hitchcock joked during a news conference, and then, referring to a kids’ arcade game, said, “I need to get one of those mallets and bang, bang, bang.”

Makes one long for those Stanley Cup days when Mighty Duck Coach Mike Babcock held court, uttering his “this is the most important game of the season” stump speech. That seems eons ago, what with the Torts and re-Torts emanating from the Eastern Conference finals.

Tortorella, whose playoff beard gives him a Dennis Miller look, started with the outrageous slings and arrows that brought a sideshow attraction to what has been a competitive series. He has viewed each day as the most important news conference of the season.

Hitchcock seems happy to play along.

The verbal filleting began after a 6-2 win by Philadelphia in Game 2, when Hitchcock complained about the Flyers’ being continually slashed.

That Hitchcock had barked at a Lightning player near the end of the game gave Tortorella his cause.

Tortorella went on a two-minute rant the following day, calling Hitchcock “gutless” and closed by saying the Flyer coach “should shut his yap.”

Tortorella also took a shot at Flyer General Manager Bobby Clarke:

“We knew going into the series, Bobby Clarke was going to be working as hard as he can, whining about this, that, the other thing, as far as what’s going in the series.”

The fuse was lighted. Hitchcock, told of the tantrum, responded by saying Tortorella should “mind his own business.” Then Clarke, not one to sit idle when the maturity level drops, was the third man in, behavior the NHL punishes on the ice.

Clarke called Tortorella “a pathetic little man” last week, then got rolling over the weekend.

After Saturday’s game, angry about a hit by the Lightning’s Tim Taylor, Clarke deliberately mispronounced Tortorella’s name, “ ... He’ll find somebody to blame this time, though, the Great Tortellini. There’s no mirrors in his house. It’s always somebody else’s fault.”

And, still, television ratings are low.

The soap opera is tied, 2-2, with Game 5 tonight.

Meanwhile, all the Western Conference finals have to offer is hard-nosed, shut-up-and-play hockey.

San Jose’s Mike Rathje demonstrated that with his response after being pummeled by Calgary’s Chris Simon near the end of Game 3. Rathje came away with a black eye and stitches from the brawl, but said little about the incident off the ice, saving his retaliation for Game 4.

Rathje buried a shot to start the Sharks’ four-goal second period in a 4-2 victory Sunday.

“It’s much better to be talking about winning and scoring a goal,” a smiling Rathje said. “This is the playoffs and that kind of stuff

Cleansed Palate

A year ago, Mighty Duck goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere was the toast of the hockey world.

That dissolved during a season that went so wrong that people stopped whining about the size of his pads. That the Ducks went from Stanley Cup finalists to out of the playoffs was not entirely Giguere’s doing, but he took plenty of hits.

Giguere was given a chance to rewrite his season ending a little as a goalie for Team Canada at the world championships. He came home from Prague, Czech Republic, with a gold medal.

“It is much better to go home with a gold medal than to go home with a kick in the butt,” said Giguere, who played two games as backup to Roberto Luongo of the Florida Panthers.

Giguere plans to take the world championship experience into his off-season training, with the incentive to prove he is not a one-time wonder.

“The season is far away and over with,” Giguere said. “You can’t dwell in the past, but focus on what’s coming ahead.”

Babcock and Duck forward Rob Niedermayer also benefited from Team Canada’s triumph. Babcock was to be an assistant coach, but took over the team when Joel Quenneville became ill before the tournament.

“Anytime you get a chance to win, it’s great,” Babcock said. “Instead of talking about our season, I get to talk about the world championships, which is positive too. I was thankful for the quality players we had and their commitment trying to do it right so we can win.”

Blah, Blah, Blah

The grievance filed by the players’ union over the proposed reduction in the width of goalie leg pads was yet another chance to point fingers.

Colin Campbell, director of hockey operations, was the NHL official speaking out this time, telling TSN, “Maybe the [NHLPA] should check with their players on this because the players, the skaters, they think this is a good idea.”

Union officials issued a statement: “Comments made by Colin Campbell suggesting that NHLPA representatives were involved in the decision to make changes to goaltender equipment ... are absolutely false.”

Yet another instance showing why the sides can’t agree on lunch, let alone a collective bargaining agreement.

Union leaders met with agents last week in Toronto and did not paint a pretty picture.

“There are two people driving the bus, [NHL Commissioner] Gary Bettman and [NHLPA Executive Director] Bob Goodenow,” one agent said. “And we’re going nowhere.”

One-Timers

Wayne Gretzky took Bettman off the hook Saturday by not selecting Vancouver’s Todd Bertuzzi to play for Team Canada in this summer’s World Cup. Bertuzzi, indefinitely suspended from the NHL for his cheap shot on Colorado’s Steve Moore, would have needed reinstatement by Bettman to play.

Gretzky and the Team Canada staff chose not to rest on the laurels of consecutive world championships and the gold medal at the 2002 Olympics. New blood was called to serve -- Tampa Bay’s Martin St. Louis, Boston’s Joe Thornton, San Jose’s Patrick Marleau and Atlanta’s Dany Heatly.

Duck center Samuel Pahlsson and King defenseman Mattias Norstrom were selected to Sweden’s World Cup team.

The United States will announce its World Cup roster Thursday.

New Jersey defenseman Scott Niedermayer became the 14th player to win the Triple Crown. Team Canada’s victory last week gave Niedermayer a gold medal from the world championships to go along with his Olympic gold medal and Stanley Cup.