Struggling Devils fire Ruff in fourth season
The New Jersey Devils fired coach Lindy Ruff on Monday and named assistant Travis Green as the interim replacement for the rest of the season.
General manager Tom Fitzgerald made the surprising move with just over 20 games left to play. The Devils have lost five of seven to fall further out of playoff contention, seven points back of Metropolitan Division rival Philadelphia and eight back of the two Eastern Conference wild-card spots.
Ruff, 64, was in his fourth season with the team. The Devils reached the second round of the playoffs last year before losing to Carolina and had preseason expectations of making another run.
PANTHERS 4, RANGERS 2 >>
Ryan Lomberg scored the goahead goal early in the third period, and Florida won at New York in a matchup of first-place teams. Sam Reinhart had two goals and Anton Lundell also scored as the Panthers won their fifth straight and 11th in the last 12 games.
AVALANCHE 5, BLACKHAWKS 0>>
Nathan MacKinnon extended his home point streak to 30 games with two goals and two assists, and Colorado improved to a leaguebest 24-6-0 at home this season.
BRUINS 4, MAPLE LEAFS 1 >>
Pavel Zacha scored twice to send Boston to the win at Toronto. Jake DeBrusk had a goal and an assist for the Bruins (36-13-14), who had dropped four of five.
BLUES 2, FLYERS 1, SO >>
Pavel
WESTERN CONFERENCE
PACIFIC DIVISION
Vancouver Edmonton Vegas Kings Calgary Seattle Ducks
San Jose
Winnipeg Dallas Colorado Nashville St. Louis Minnesota Arizona Chicago
EASTERN CONFERENCE
ATLANTIC DIVISION
Florida Boston Toronto Detroit Tampa Bay Buffalo Montreal Ottawa
N.Y. Rangers Carolina Philadelphia N.Y. Islanders Washington New Jersey Pittsburgh Columbus
GP W
63 59 62 60 61 61 61 60
CENTRAL DIVISION
60 63 63 62 61 62 61 62
GP W
62 63 61 61 63 62 61 59 62 61 63 60 60 61 59 61
Monday's results
39 37 33 31 30 27 22 15
GP W
39 37 38 35 32 29 25 15 42 36 35 33 33 29 23 25
GP W
40 36 32 26 28 30 27 21
L OT Pts GF GA
17 20 22 19 26 23 36 39
L OT Pts GF GA
16 17 20 25 26 27 31 42
L OT Pts GF GA
16 13 18 22 24 29 28 31
METROPOLITAN DIVISION
18 19 23 20 23 27 24 30 7 2 7 10 5 11 3 6 5 9 5 2 3 6 5 5 4 14 8 6 6 4 10 3 4 6 8 14 9 4 8 10
Boston 4, Toronto 1
Florida 4, N.Y. Rangers 2 Columbus 6, Vegas 3
St. Louis 2, Philadelphia 1, SO Colorado 5, Chicago 0
Seattle 4, Calgary 2 85 224 176 76 212 172 73 201 185 72 188 162 65 191 191 65 170 173 47 162 216 36 129 235 83 187 144 83 225 190 81 232 194 72 199 190 67 176 187 64 194 208 55 180 201 35 125 223 88 206 147 86 212 175 78 225 194 72 216 195 72 214 213 62 183 187 56 173 219 53 195 212
L OT Pts GF GA
84 206 172 78 201 172 72 190 186 66 180 201 65 160 193 64 202 214 62 174 166 52 184 223
Buchnevich and Jake Neighbours scored in the shootout, lifting St. Louis to the win at Philadelphia.
BLUE JACKETS 6, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3 >>
Alex Nylander scored three times, and host Columbus posted back-toback wins for the first time in more than three months.