Larry Robinson won a Stanley Cup with the New Jersey Devils, then took the team to the seventh game of last year’s finals. When the Devils floundered, Robinson was canned in favor of Kevin Constantine.
Now Robinson is back behind the Devils bench as an assistant coach while John Cunniff undergoes treatment for a recurrence of throat cancer. Cunniff joined Constantine after Robinson was fired.
“I still think Larry’s an excellent coach,” Devils GM Lou Lamoriello said. “Larry did everything and anything he possibly could.”
Keep your head up: Circle March 13 on your NHL master schedule. That’s when San Jose and St. Louis meet and Chris Pronger and Teemu Selanne get together again.
The two had a fierce battle during the Finland-Canada quarterfinal game and Pronger charged after Selanne after the final horn.
After his first practice back with San Jose, Selanne confirmed that Pronger said, “I’m going to kill you.”
Selanne drilled Pronger into the end boards, which resulted in Pronger’s helmet opening a gash on his forehead.
Bruins basher: Carolina’s Ron Francis continues to torment Boston. Thursday night Francis collected a goal and three assists in a 6-2 victory. He now has 28 goals and 99 assists in 118 career games against the Bruins.
Fighting mad: Calgary and St. Louis combined for 139 penalty minutes, including six fighting majors, three game misconducts and three double-game misconducts in the Flames’ 3-2 win Thursday. The melee was ignited when Calgary defenseman Bob Boughner gave St. Louis center Doug Weight a bruised right knee by checking him heavily into the boards.
Milestone: Rangers defenseman Brian Leetch played in his 1,000th game, the third Ranger to achieve the feat, joining Harry Howell and Rod Gilbert.
Three’s the charm: Dallas star Mike Modano isn’t kidding when he says, “We’ve been pretty good on the road if we score more than three goals.” The Stars own a NHL-best 15-0-0-0 road record when scoring three or more this season. They are 0-11-2-1 when they don’t.
