PHILADELPHIA -- Cam York was in the lineup and had his regular complement of ice time for the Philadelphia Flyers in a 7-4 win against the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday after dressing but not playing because of a disciplinary issue in a 6-4 win against the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
York, who had one shot on goal in 18:53 of ice time on Saturday, had been benched for most of the Flyers' 7-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday. The defenseman played 3:50, with the last of his eight shifts ending with 9:23 remaining in the first period after John Tavares' first-period goal. The play began with York turning the puck over behind the Philadelphia net, and ended with Tavares' shot bouncing off his skate and behind goalie Samuel Ersson.
"I'm not going to get into the details of it," York said after practice Friday. "I will say this, I take full responsibility for my actions. It's been addressed here in the locker room, and it's something that I'm going to put behind me and move on from. We've got eight games left here, and that's my focus right now. So, we'll leave it at that."
With the Flyers playing five defensemen for most of the past two games, York said he did address what happened with his teammates.
"Obviously sitting on the bench there in that type of game is never fun," York said. "Five [defensemen] is a tough thing to do, and you never want to put your teammates in a situation like that."
York has 15 points (four goals, 11 assists) in 59 games and is second on the team in ice time per game at 21:01, trailing only defenseman Travis Sanheim (24:31).
Sanheim, York's regular defense partner, played 30:28 against the Canadiens, his second-highest ice time total this season, after playing 25:59 against the Maple Leafs.
"Obviously I've been through situations, maybe not the same, but difficult times," Sanheim said Thursday. "Just try to keep [York's] mind straight, and try to see some positives and try and help him out as best I can. He's obviously a great player and a big part of this team. We obviously missed him, and hopefully, he can get back in."
Prior to the win Thursday, the Flyers (30-36-9) had lost 11 of 12 games (1-10-1). They have won two straight and are three points ahead of the Sabres for last in the Eastern Conference, six points out of the second wild card with eight games remaining.
The decision to bench York during the Maple Leafs game came under coach John Tortorella, who was fired Thursday.
York said he appreciated how hard Tortorella had pushed him during their three seasons together.
"I have nothing bad to say [about Tortorella]," York said Friday. "He taught me a lot of really good things and was a really good coach for me. I'm going to use a lot of things that he taught me down the road in my career. He's a really good coach, and I wish him the best of luck down the road."
Brad Shaw, who was promoted from assistant to replace Tortorella, said he expects the 24-year-old to grow from what happened.
"That's a process," Shaw said. "You have lots of young guys that are sort of on different tracks as far as how mature they are and where they're going to get to. You learn through the good and the bad. Hopefully at the end of the day he's a better person for what happened. It's over now, and we've dealt with it, and we're going to move forward."
