Coach John Tortorella chastises Blue Jackets forward for 'Pee Wee' play

Columbus Blue Jackets players never have to guess how coach John Tortorella feels about their play.

The fiery coach often offers a blunt post-game assessment of his team’s performance.

On Monday, Tortorella didn’t wait to show his dissatisfaction with center Lukas Sedlak’s poor defensive play on Toronto center Zach Hyman’s game-winning goal in the 4-2 loss.

Tortorella was visibly unhappy with Sedlak, who is in his third NHL season, when he came to bench after the goal was scored with 4:30 remaining in regulation.

“Dumb coverage,” Tortorella said in a post-game news conference. “It’s Pee Wee coverage and we didn’t handle it. It’s frustrating. We played well enough to win, and not to get a point out of it off a simple coverage off the faceoff, it just (ticks) you off. It’s dumb.”

Sedlak, 25, lost the faceoff to Hyman and chose to cover John Tavares instead of Hyman on the play. Hyman was alone to tip in Morgan Rielly’s shot from the point.

More: NHL's quarter-mark duds: Start with the Penguins, Kings captain Anze Kopitar

More: St. Louis Blues fire head coach Mike Yeo after disappointing start

Tortorella was also unhappy with defenseman Scott Harrington for allowing Mitch Marner to set up the 2-2 tying goal by Tavares.

“It’s a soft goal,” Tortorella said. “It’s just simply getting outworked off the puck.”

Tortorella has his team in first place in the Metropolitan Division, but he isn’t going to ease up on his Blue Jackets. That’s not his style. He will always be among the league’s most feisty and combative coaches. Above all, Tortorella believes in accountability.