Fading Devils fire Ruff as head coach in a surprising move

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 go-ahead goal early in the third period, Sam Reinhart scored twice and Florida won at New York in a matchup of first-place teams. The Panthers won their fifth straight and 11th in the last 12 games. Florida leads the NHL with 42 wins and 88 points. Since Dec. 23, Florida is 24-4-2. The Panthers also have a leagueleading 21 road wins and 44 road points.

BLUE JACKETS 6, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3 >> Alexander Nylander posted his first career hat trick, Daniil Tarasov made 37 saves and Columbus beat visiting Vegas, posting back-to-back wins for the first time in more than three months. BRUINS 4, MAPLE LEAFS 1 >> Pavel Zacha scored twice to help Boston win at Toronto. Jake DeBrusk had a goal and an assist for the Bruins (36-13-14), who had dropped four of five. Morgan Geekie also scored, and David Pastrnak had three assists. BLUES 2, FLYERS 1 >> Pavel Buchnevich and Jake Neighbours scored in the shootout, and Kevin Hayes had a goal against his former team as St. Louis won at Philadelphia.