Tortorella out $50,000 for comments

Rangers coach John Tortorella is out $50,000 in the last four months after he was fined $20,000 Friday for his postgame comments about Brooks Orpik's knee-to-knee hit on Derek Stepan on Thursday.

Tortorella referred to Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin as "whining stars" and called the Penguins organization "arrogant."

He also was slammed $30,000 for his flippant remarks after the Winter Classic, alleging some unspecified alliance between the referees and NBC for wanting the Rangers' 3-2 victory over the Flyers to go to overtime.

"It's a cheap, dirty hit," Tortorella said Thursday. "I wonder what would happen if we did it to one of their two whining stars over there. I'm anxious to see what happens with the league. Just no respect amongst players. None. It's sickening. It's one of the most arrogant organizations in the league.

"They complain about this stuff all the time and look what happens. It's ridiculous. But they'll whine about something else over there, won't they, starting with their two ---- stars."

On Monday, Flyers assistant coach Craig Berube told Comcast SportsNet: "Crosby and Malkin are the dirtiest players on their hockey team. They slash, they punch guys in the face, they do all these little things."

A late-game brawl in Saturday's 6-4 Flyers win was triggered in part by a cross-check from Brayden Schenn. "If someone runs [Crosby] over, that's great; they should run him over. This guy gets away with too much. He whines to the refs all day and all night. It's a joke. Not like it was a tough, bad cross-check; the guy dove."

Flyers coach Peter Laviolette was fined $10,000 for climbing on the bench "to engage in a verbal altercation" in that game. Penguins assistant Tony Granato got the same infraction: $2,500. A fine for Berube? Nope. There's some disconnect here, or a double-standard.

Edmonton coach Tom Renney, after an April 2 loss against the Los Angeles Kings, asked why the Oilers drew so few penalties, mused: "I'm not sure [why]. Maybe [they] need Hollywood in the playoffs." That resulted in a $10,000 fine.

Back in February 2011, the Islanders were fined $100,000 for "failure to control their players" in a fight-filled win over, guess who, the Penguins, who had no dough lifted from their wallets, even after Penguins owner Mario Lemieux complained: "The NHL had a chance to send a clear and strong message that those kinds of actions are unacceptable and embarrassing to the sport. It failed."

In Pittsburgh on Friday, Crosby called Tortorella's comments "garbage" and said it was designed to influence the officiating. Penguins coach Dan Bylsma called it "gamesmanship . . . We've heard different things, from hits, starting lineups to how referees end games. It's part of his [Tortorella's] coaching manual to go off there." Fines? Nope.