Amid bad stretch, Preds fire Laviolette as coach
The Predators fired Peter Laviolette on Monday after he coached the team into the playoffs in each of the previous five seasons.
Assistant coach Kevin McCarthy also was dismissed.
The Predators (19-15-7) have dropped four of five heading into Tuesday night’s game against the Bruins. They’re 11th in the Western Conference standings with 45 points.
There was no word on a replacement for either coach.
The 55-year-old Laviolette went 248143-60 in 51⁄2 seasons with the Predators, who lost to the Penguins in the 2017 Stanley Cup Final, made it to the second round of the playoffs in 2018 and were eliminated in the first round a year ago.
The Predators signed free-agent forward Matt Duchene to a seven-year, $56 million contract July 1, but they still sputtered through the first half of this season. They haven’t won more than two straight games since a four-game streak in late October.
This marks the sixth NHL coaching change of the season.
Laviolette was just the second coach in Predators history. Barry Trotz was behind the bench for the organization’s first 15 seasons.
Before coming to Nashville, Laviolette coached the Islanders (2001-03), Hurricanes (2003-09) and Flyers (2009-14).
Laviolette has 637 wins over 18 years as an NHL coach.
He coached the Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup title in 2006 and reached the Cup final with the Flyers in 2010, falling to the Blackhawks in six games.
Varlamov tops former team: Semyon Varlamov stopped 32 shots against his former team for his second shutout of the season, Anders Lee scored and the Islanders beat the visiting Avalanche 1-0 on Monday.
The Islanders had lost two straight overall and four in a row at the Nassau Coliseum.
Varlamov got his 27th career shutout in the first time facing the Avalanche since signing a four-year deal with the Islanders last summer. The 31-year-old was making his fifth straight start after alternating with Thomas Greiss the first 36 games.
Lee broke a scoreless tie at 6:54 of the third period.
McDavid, Oilers cool off Leafs: Connor McDavid scored a highlight-reel goal and added three assists as the Oilers snapped the Maple Leafs’ point streak at 10 games with a 6-4 road victory.
Oscar Klefbom, Darnell Nurse, Kailer Yamamoto, Alex Chiasson and Leon Draisaitl also scored for the Oilers.
The Leafs had gone 9-0-1 in their previous 10 games.