Rebuilding Ottawa fires coach
Ottawa fired coach Guy Boucher Friday and named assistant Marc Crawford as the interim replacement with the NHL’s last-place team mired in a sixgame losing streak.
Boucher, 47, coached the Senators to within one win of the Stanley Cup Final in 2017 in his first season behind the bench. He previously got Tampa Bay to within one win of the final in 2011.
General manager Pierre Dorion had given Boucher a vote of confidence as recently as Monday, but he said he decided a change was needed Thursday night, after the Senators lost, 4-2, at home to Edmonton. He said “a different set of coaching and leadership skills” was needed to guide a young team through its rebuild, which includes 17 picks in the first three rounds of the next three drafts..
Flyers
Philadelphia set an NHL record Friday when Cam Talbot became the eighth goaltender to play for the Flyers this season. Talbot, acquired from Edmonton in mid-February for fellow goaltender Anthony Stolarz, followed Brian Elliott, Carter Hart, Michal Neuvirth, Calvin Pickard, Alex Lyon, Mike McKenna and Stolarz in a season in which Flyers goalies have missed 107 man games due to injuries. Talbot got the win, too, making 30 saves in a 6-3 victory at New Jersey as James van Riemsdyk had two goals and an assist.
Capitals
Alex Ovechkin became the first player in NHL history with 10 seasons of 45 goals or more, scoring in Washington’s three-goal third period as the visiting Capitals rallied for a 3-1 victory against the New York Islanders. The win extended Washington’s winning streak to three as the Capitals moved into a tie with the Islanders atop the Metropolitan Division.