Blackhawks fire coach after three Stanley Cup titles
Quenneville out amid losing skid
CHICAGO — Joel Quenneville knew the deal. After three Stanley Cup titles and nine playoff appearances with the Chicago Blackhawks, the longtime coach figured this was a big season for him.
“I only think we’re in the winning business and we better win,” Quenneville said on the first day of training camp. Two months later, it was over. The Blackhawks fired Quenneville on Tuesday, ending a wildly successful run that returned the franchise to the top of the NHL after years of heartache.
“We want to win,” team president John McDonough said. “We want to re-win. We want our building filled and we want our fans to see an exciting brand of hockey. Sometimes, as painful as it is, you need a fresh start.”
The move comes in the wake of a winless three-game trip, extending Chicago’s losing streak to five in a row heading into Thursday’s home game against Carolina. The power play, a persistent problem, ranked 27th in the NHL heading into Tuesday. The Blackhawks (6-6-3) also are allowing an unseemly 3.73 goals per game.
“A decision like this isn’t made on one game, one play, or one specific thing,” general manager Stan Bowman said. “It’s sort of a collection of things. Certainly the road trip was concerning. But I think even heading into that, there were some elements to our game where they weren’t where they needed to be.”
Assistants Kevin Dineen and Ulf Samuelsson also were let go. Jeremy Colliton was hired as the 38th head coach in franchise history, and Barry Smith, 66, moved from Chicago’s front office to the bench as an assistant coach.
Colliton goes from Chicago’s American Hockey League affiliate in Rockford, Illinois, to the NHL’s youngest head coach at 33. Blackhawks forward Chris Kunitz, defenseman Duncan Keith and goaltenders Corey Crawford and Cam Ward are older than Colliton, and defenseman Brent Seabrook also is 33.
“I have a huge amount of respect for Joel,” Colliton said. “Those are huge shoes to fill. I won’t try to fill them. I’ve got to be myself. And we’re different people, so I’ll bring different things to the table, different ideas to the table.”
Tuesday’s games
SENATORS 7, DEVILS 3: In Ottawa, Ontario, Mark Stone had two goals and three assists, Colin White scored twice and Ottawa beat New Jersey.
Thomas Chabot, Ryan Dzingel and Magnus Paajarvi had the other Senators (6-6-3) goals.
LIGHTNING 5, OILERS 2: In Tampa, Fla., Nikita Kucherov had two goals and an assist, Andrei Vasilevskiy made 33 saves and Tampa Bay Lightning beat Edmonton.
MAPLE LEAFS 3, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 1: In Toronto, Frederik Andersen made 36 saves to lift the Maple Leafs over Vegas.
BLUE JACKETS 4, STARS 1: In Columbus, Ohio, Sergei Bobrovsky made 27 saves to lift the Blue Jackets past Dallas.
RANGERS 5, CANADIENS 3: In New York, Neal Pionk scored the tiebreaking goal on a sensational, end-to-end rush late in the third period and the Rangers rallied to beat Montreal for their fourth straight win.
RED WINGS 3, CANUCKS 2 (SO): In Detroit, Dylan Larkin scored the only goal in a shootout to give Detroit a comeback win over Vancouver.
BLUES 4, HURRICANES 1: In St. Louis, Ryan O’Reilly notched his first NHL hat trick and Robby Fabbri added his first goal in almost two years, lifting St. Louis to a victory over Carolina.