WASHINGTON -- General manager George McPhee and coach Adam Oates lost their jobs with the Washington Capitals on Saturday, about two weeks after the team failed to make the playoffs for the first time since 2007. "We were left with the overall impression that the team wasnt trending toward being able to compete for a Stanley Cup," Capitals owner Ted Leonsis said in a news conference at the clubs arena. "And that was just a clear signal and why it was time to make those changes." McPhees contract was up and the team announced it will not give him a new one after his 17 years as the GM, which included drafting Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom in the first round. Oates was fired with one season left on his three-year deal. A former star player for the Capitals, he was in his first job as an NHL head coach. Washington finished this season with the ninth-most points in the Eastern Conference, one spot out of a playoff berth. "You have to do something to pivot the team to be an ongoing strong team," Leonsis said. "And I just felt that new leadership at this time was needed, and lets start it with a clean slate." Asked whether any player would be untouchable as part of upcoming changes -- a chance, perhaps, for Leonsis to mention captain and top scorer Ovechkin -- the owner replied: "Im not the general manager. So If the general manager comes with something, we would listen to the general manager." Ovechkin has won three league MVP awards and again led the NHL in scoring this season with 51 goals, but the Capitals havent made it past the second round of the playoffs during the Russian wings career. Dick Patrick, the president of the Capitals, said the team already has drawn up a list of potential GM candidates. "Typically, youd like to have a general manager in place and have him choose a coach," Patrick said. The Capitals reached the Stanley Cup finals in 1998, McPhees first year on the job, and were swept by the Detroit Red Wings. Later, McPhee oversaw a "rebuild" ordered by Leonsis, including jettisoning top players with big contracts such as Jaromir Jagr. "Lets not forget that rebuilding process was dramatic. And I watched a great executive go through really, really hard times and really rebuild that team quickly. We just didnt get there," Leonsis said. "At some point, you just have to try something different." While McPhee eventually built a young roster filled with offensive stars, he never placed as much emphasis on constructing a rugged, defensive-minded blue line crop. He hired a succession of coaches with zero previous NHL experience running a team, including Glen Hanlon, Bruce Boudreau, Dale Hunter and Oates. Led by Ovechkin, the Capitals produced terrific regular-season results for a half-dozen seasons, without similar success in the post-season. Four years ago, Washington won the Presidents Trophy for having the most points during the season, then lost in the first round of the playoffs to the eighth-seeded Montreal Canadiens. Leonsis called McPhee, who built seven division-winning teams, "a talented man, a great friend," but that it was time for "a fresh set of eyes." The Capitals went 65-48-17 under Oates in his two seasons. In a brief statement released via the team, Oates called it "a tremendous honour to coach the Capitals these past two seasons" and said he was "grateful for the opportunity." In his first season in charge, which was shortened because of a labour dispute, Washington reached the playoffs with a late surge before losing in the first round to the New York Rangers in seven games. "We were a continuously improving playoff team until we werent. And the last two seasons showed us that we need to improve. And thats what it came down to," Leonsis said. "Dick and I said, We have to make that gut check. Do we have to change? And where do you start? And you start with the coach and the general manager." .This one was bigger than most.Ben Roethlisberger and LeVeon Bell came up big in a game that Pittsburgh had to win Sunday, leading the Steelers to a 42-21 drubbing of the Cincinnati Bengals that left the AFC North race wide open. . Called on from the college ranks to replace Andy Reid, Kelly implemented a whole new atmosphere in the City of Brotherly Love and now has the Eagles in the playoffs for the first time since 2010.
https://www.cheapstarsonline.com/.com) - It appears both the Houston Rockets and Chicago Bulls will reach the playoffs, but the two squads are coming off losing efforts. .Y. - Phil Varone was the lone scorer in the shootout as the Rochester Americans edged the Toronto Marlies 3-2 on Sunday in American Hockey League action. . PETERSBURG, Fla.The New York Rangers jumped out to a 2-0 lead against the Los Angeles Kings in Game Four of the Stanley Cup Final and, this time, it held up, and the Rangers won 2-1 to avoid a sweep, sending the series back to Los Angeles for Game Five. The story of Game Three, in some respects, was that the Rangers werent getting the breaks, but that tide turned in Game Four, as there were at least a couple of pucks that settled on the goal-line behind Rangers G Henrik Lundqvist, but were scooped away before it could cross. Outshot 41-19, the Rangers got goals from Benoit Pouliot and Martin St. Louis to jump out to the lead. It was Pouliots second point in the past 11 games, but the Rangers need all hands on deck if they are going to somehow climb back into this series. St. Louis leads the Rangers with eight goals this postseason. Kings captain Dustin Brown, who has eight points (4 G, 4 A) in the past eight games, was the lone goal-scorer for Los Angeles. He took advantage of Rangers D Dan Girardis broken stick to skate in a breakaway and beat Lundqvist with a forehand deke. Once St. Louis scored, with 13:33 left in the second period, the Rangers registered six shots on goal (four at even-strength) over the rest of the game, including one in the third period -- an 83-foot snap shot by D Ryan McDonagh -- while the Kings launched 26 shots on Lundqvist. This kind of defensive (or at least non-offensive) shell leads to a team surrendering two-goal leads, only it didnt happen this time. After stopping 40 of 41 shots, many of which were high-quality scoring chances, Lundqvist now has a .926 save percentage in the postseason. In the past three years, Lundqvist has a .930 save percentage in the playoffs, ranking third among goaltenders to play at least 20 games. Coming into the series, the Ranges had to hope that Lundqvist was going to provide a goaltending advantage over Jonathan Quick and that hadnt been the case through three games, so getting a big performance from Lundqqvist was a start Kings rookie LW Tanner Pearson registered a game-high eight shots on goal, having never recorded more than four in an NHL game.dddddddddddd Pearson also had the best possession numbers in Game Four, with 19 shot attempts for and six against during 5-on-5 play. The Rangers defence pairing of Marc Staal and Anton Stralman took their lumps in the possession game, both on for less than 32% of the 5-on-5 shot atempts when they were on the ice. Rangers C Dominic Moore played 17:47, a total hes surpassed once in the postseason and that was Game Two of this series, a game that went into double overtime. Aside from little-used Derek Dorsett, Moore -- playing primarily with Chris Kreider and Martin St. Louis -- had the best possession numbers among Rangers forwards in Game Four. Hockey can be a funny game. There have been other games in this series in which the Rangers controlled play and might have been more deserving of a win, but they emerged with the win in Game Four, a game in which they were thoroughly outplayed. This time, they got a few breaks, their goalending came up big and the Blueshirts live to play another game. Its still a long road to climb to overcome a series deficit that now sits at 3-1, with Game Five Friday in Los Angeles. But, pull off an upset in L.A. Friday and maybe this starts to get interesting. For the Kings, they missed out on their chance to record the first Final sweep since 1998, but they are still in great shape. They hold a 3-1 lead in the series and are going home for Game Five. Teams that hold a 3-1 lead in the NHL Final with Game Five at home have historically won 61.9% of Game Fives (so the Rangers have a chance), but those teams have also won all 21 series under those circumstances, which offers less hope for the Rangers. Scott Cullen can be reached at
Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at
http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. ' ' '
