Canucks’ John Tortorella tries to break into Flames’ dressing room

Much has been said of Vancouver Canucks Coach John Tortorella’s attitude change since he left New York for the Pacific Northwest.

Though he may be a bit more mild-mannered behind the bench and in news conferences, don’t overestimate his ability to control his emotions.

The Canucks entered Saturday having lost eight of their previous nine games (which included a 9-1 head-in-the-sand moment against the Ducks on Wednesday), and Tortorella finally lost his cool against the visiting Calgary Flames.

After the game opened with an five-on-five brawl, Tortorella took the matter too far when he attempted to go into the Flames’ dressing room during the first-period intermission.

Canadian Broadcasting Corp. cameras captured Tortorella getting into a confrontation with Calgary enforcer Brian McGrattan, who pushed the most successful U.S. coach in NHL history away when he tried to enter the dressing room. Flames goaltender coach Clint Malarchuk had to be restrained by McGrattan and Flames staff from attempting to confront Tortorella.

CBC also showed footage of Vancouver defenseman Chris Tanev restraining teammate Alexandre Burrows from attempting to go to the Flames’ dressing room.

The whole ruckus at Rogers Arena was ignited when Tortorella and Calgary Flames Coach Bob Hartley opened the game with their fourth lines. Vancouver defenseman Kevin Bieksa took the opening draw against former Kings tough guy Kevin Westgarth, and an all-skaters brawl ensued moments later. Tortorella was captured on camera yelling at Hartley and Flames players on the bench during the fight.

The fight led to eight players being ejected and a total of 152 penalty minutes.

Fortunately for Tortorella, the brawns-over-brains approach finally seemed to work for the Canucks -- they defeated the Flames in a shootout, 3-2.