PHILADELPHIA — In 2004, new Flyers coach John Tortorella passed through Philadelphia as the coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference final. At the time, he was in just his fifth season as an NHL head coach.
Throughout the seven-game series in which the Lightning beat the Flyers en route to their eventual 2004 Stanley Cup victory, he recalled being struck by Philadelphia.
“I remember telling my wife, and I told Chuck [Fletcher, Flyers general manager] this story, ‘Man, that is a place I would love an opportunity to be and coach,’ ” Tortorella said on Friday at an introductory Zoom press conference alongside Fletcher. “The passion of the people, the building, everything about the city. It was really neat for me.”
