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Lemaire says hell return for 8th season coaching Wild

By Ann Heisenfelt (AP)

Minnesota Wild coach Jacques Lemaire says he'll return for an eighth season with the team. Lemaire, who announced his decision in a news release Saturday, has a career record of 500-381-168 over 14 years, including 60-52 in the playoffs.

But with the Wild, he's gone just 11-18 in the postseason. The Wild were ousted in the first round last month by the Colorado Avalanche, culminating what Lemaire called his toughest season as a coach.

"I'm getting older and maybe not as patient as I was when I started to coach," he said in an interview after the Wild were...

By Gene J. Puskar (AP)

For all the skill he possesses at age 21, all the goals he's scored, all he's done to put the Pittsburgh Penguins three victories away from the Stanley Cup finals, Evgeni Malkin has a weakness.

Give him a breakaway, and one of the NHL's best players becomes just another player.

At least that was the case until he scored a playoff goal he won't soon forget, on a shot no one expected, in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals against the team the Penguins enjoy beating most.

Malkin's short-handed breakaway goal on a close-range slap shot early in the second period fool...

By David Zalubowski (AP)

Joel Quenneville is out as coach of the Avalanche after three seasons, a week after Colorado was swept out of the playoffs by the Detroit Red Wings.

Quenneville was 131-92-23 in Denver but just 2-2 in playoff series after inheriting a team that was on the slide after a decade of dominance in the NHL.

"After meeting with Joel, we mutually agreed that the best decision for both parties involved is to go separate ways," Avalanche executive vice president and general manager Francois Giguere said.

Giguere doesn't have a timeline for when he'll hire a new coach, but he does...

By David Zalubowski (AP)

The Colorado Avalanche say Joel Quenneville is out as coach after three seasons. Quenneville was 131-92-23 in Denver, but just 2-2 in playoff series after inheriting a team that was on the slide after a decade of dominance in the NHL.

The Avs were swept out of the playoffs by the Detroit Red Wings last week, and general manager Francois Giguere faces a huge task this offseason, facing decisions on 13 players who will become unrestricted free agents if they're not re-signed.

...

By Keith Srakocic (AP)

Some NHL rivalries evolve from a big game, a major trade or a short-lived scuffle, then fade after a few years. Not the Philadelphia Flyers vs. the Pittsburgh Penguins.

This rivalry is real, perpetual, and, mostly, downright nasty.

Evolving from state lines and bloodlines _ and it's mostly bad blood _ it's been one of the league's most heated since the teams were born in 1967. Now, for the first time, it will decide a Stanley Cup finalist as the Pennsylvania teams meet in the Eastern Conference finals beginning Friday night.

"All the games (during the season) were heat...

By David Zalubowski (AP)

The Colorado Avalanche say Joel Quenneville is out as coach after three seasons.

Quenneville was 131-92-23 in Denver, but just 2-2 in playoff series after inheriting a team that was on the slide after a decade of dominance in the NHL.

The Avs were swept out of the playoffs by the Detroit Red Wings last week, and general manager Francois Giguere faces a huge task this offseason, facing decisions on 13 players who will become unrestricted free agents if they're not re-signed.

...

By FRANK GUNN (AP)

Paul Maurice was fired as coach of the Maple Leafs on Wednesday after Toronto failed to make the playoffs during his two years. The dismissal was the first big move in what is expected to be an active offseason for the team.

"This is a start of a new era for the Maple Leafs," interim general manager Cliff Fletcher said at a news conference at Air Canada Centre. "This is all part and parcel of that."

The Maple Leafs finished 12th in the Eastern Conference with a 36-35-11 record and missed a playoff spot by 11 points.

They are looking for a full-time GM after firing John...

By Gene J. Puskar (AP)

Maybe it was Jaromir Jagr's last game with the New York Rangers. It almost certainly wasn't Jagr's last hockey game.

Jagr, a five-time NHL scoring champion, is facing an uncertain future following the Rangers' season-ending 3-2 overtime loss to Pittsburgh on Sunday in Game 5 of their second-round playoff series.

While the 36-year-old Jagr's contract carries into next season only if he wins the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs MVP, almost an impossibility now that the Rangers have been eliminated, he plans to keep playing hockey.

"(My) last game? I don't think I'm...

By Keith Srakocic (AP)

Rangers forward Sean Avery was released from the hospital Sunday morning, five days after suffering a season-ending spleen injury in a playoff game.

Avery was in intensive care at St. Vincent's Medical Center from the time he was admitted Tuesday night, shortly after New York's Game 3 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, until Saturday because of a lacerated spleen, Rangers spokesman John Rosasco said.

He left the hospital one day later, just hours before the Rangers took the ice in Pittsburgh to try to extend their season without him.

The 28-year-old agitating winger is...

By Keith Srakocic (AP)

Rangers forward Sean Avery was released from the hospital Sunday morning, five days after suffering a season-ending spleen injury in a playoff game.

Avery was in intensive care at St. Vincent's Medical Center from the time he was admitted Tuesday night, shortly after New York's Game 3 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, until Saturday because of a lacerated spleen, Rangers spokesman John Rosasco said.

He left the hospital one day later, just hours before the Rangers took the ice in Pittsburgh to try to extend their season without him.

The 28-year-old agitating winger is...

By (AP)

Minnesota Wild coach Jacques Lemaire says he'll return for an eighth season with the team.

Lemaire, who announced his decision in a news release Saturday, has a career record of 500-381-168 over 14 years, including 60-52 in the playoffs.

But with the Wild, he's gone just 11-18 in the postseason. The Wild were ousted in the first round last month by the Colorado Avalanche, culminating what Lemaire called his toughest season as a coach.

...

By (AP)

When Olie Kolzig removed his nameplate from the Washington Capitals' locker room after their last playoff game, then skipped a mandatory meeting the next morning, everyone figured his time with the team was over.

Now Kolzig confirms he won't be back.

"For me, it was disappointing the way it ended. ... It just doesn't feel right," the 38-year-old goalie told The Washington Post for a story Friday. "But at the same time, as an athlete, you have to know when to move on."

Kolzig never has played for another NHL franchise. He was drafted by the Capitals in the first roun...

By (AP)

Before the first puck dropped in the Flyers-Penguins conference finals, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin found themselves being compared by various interviewers to Steve Yzerman, Mark Messier, Peter Forsberg and Jaromir Jagr.

Perhaps because neither of Pittsburgh's two marquee stars has yet reached his 22nd birthday, there were no such comparisons yet to Wayne Gretzky or Mario Lemieux.

Pretty heady stuff for two players who have not played for a Stanley Cup, much less won one, though it illustrates the sneaking suspicion throughout the NHL that the league's next-great...

By (AP)

Left wing Jason Blake of the Toronto Maple Leafs, defenseman Chris Chelios of the Detroit Red Wings and right wing Fernando Pisani of the Edmonton Oilers were selected Friday as finalists for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy.

The award, given out by the Professional Hockey Writers' Association, is presented annually to the NHL player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.

Blake was diagnosed in October with chronic myelogenous leukemia, a rare but treatable form of cancer, and still completed the season as one of only...

By (AP)

Flyers defenseman Kimmo Timonen will likely miss the Eastern Conference finals against the Pittsburgh Penguins because of a blood clot in his ankle.

Philadelphia general manager Paul Holmgren said Timonen was hit with a shot in Game 4 against Montreal. The Flyers won that series in five games and will open the next series at Pittsburgh on Friday night.

"We have to view this that he's not a player for us in the series, and march on," Holmgren said Thursday night.

...

By (AP)

Paul Maurice has been fired as coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs after his team failed to make the playoffs during his two seasons.

Maurice has a year left on his contract and was informed of the decision Wednesday morning. He told The Canadian Press from his Toronto home that he was aware that his dismissal was a possibility.

The team scheduled an afternoon news conference at Air Canada Centre.

The Maple Leafs finished 12th in the Eastern Conference and missed a playoff spot by 11 points.

...

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