Kings fire Murray despite winning record
A winning record (37-28-5) wasn’t enough for Andy Murray to keep his job as coach of the Los Angeles Kings.
General manager Dave Taylor fired Murray on Tuesday night, saying the team wasn’t playing with the same urgency and passion that marked the first half of the season.
Murray sensed it, too, after the Kings were beaten 5-0 by Colorado at home Monday night.
“It’s totally disappointing that we would be lacking the sense of urgency that we needed – to be falling down, mishandling pucks, having scoring opportunities but not being able to get the shot away, losing too many puck battles and not getting saves when we needed them,” he said.
The loss was the Kings’ fifth defeat in seven games. John Torchetti will become interim coach today.
•Alex Tanguay, who leads Colorado with 74 points, including 26 goals, will be out for up to four weeks with a sprained right knee.
•Phoenix sent rookie defenseman Matt Jones to San Antonio of the AHL.
On the ice
Martin Erat’s goal in the sixth round of the shootout gave the Nashville Predators a 3-2 victory that ended the host Detroit Red Wings’ six-game winning streak.
Thrashers 5, Bruins 4 (SO): At Boston, Jim Slater scored in the fourth extra shootout session to lift Atlanta over Boston.
Maple Leafs 3, Hurricanes 2: At Toronto, Jason Allison scored a power-play goal with 4:48 left as Toronto edged Carolina.
Flyers 2, Devils 1: At Philadelphia, Peter Forsberg scored a goal in his return to the lineup and Simon Gagne added his 40th of the season to lead Philadelphia over New Jersey.
Wild 3, Flames 1: At St. Paul, Minn., Marian Gaborik scored twice to break his franchise record for goals in a season and Brian Rolston added a short-handed tally to lead Minnesota past Calgary.
Islanders 3, Canadiens 1: At Uniondale, N.Y., Rick DiPietro made 33 saves, and Robert Nilsson scored to snap a second-period tie to help New York defeat Montreal and end a three-game losing streak.
Senators 5, Penguins 2: At Ottawa, Daniel Alfredsson netted his career-high 38th goal and assisted on another as Ottawa topped Pittsburgh to become the first team to reach 100 points this season.
Canucks 4, Oilers 1: At Edmonton, Alberta, Daniel Sedin scored twice, including a power-play goal in the first period, and Vancouver toppled Edmonton.
Coyotes 5, Blue Jackets 2: At Columbus, Ohio, Shane Doan and Steven Reinprecht each had a goal and an assist as Phoenix scored five unanswered goals to beat Columbus.
Sharks 6, Blues 0: At St. Louis, Steve Bernier scored two goals and Vesa Toskala made 33 saves for his first shutout of the season as San Jose blanked St. Louis.