Ralph Krueger fired as Oilers coach
EDMONTON, Alberta — Ralph Krueger was fired Saturday as coach of the Edmonton Oilers after leading the team to a 12th-place finish in the Western Conference in his lone season.
The Oilers have missed the playoffs seven straight years. They were 19-22-7 in the lockout-shortened season.
General manager Craig MacTavish, who addressed the media at a late-afternoon news conference, said he spent a week in discussions with Krueger about bringing on a veteran assistant coach.
“During the process of me conducting those interviews, I recognized I was trying to add a coach that was more closely aligned with the way I wanted to run the team than I was in supporting Ralph and the head coach of our team at the time,” MacTavish said.
Krueger spent one season as head coach after serving as an associate coach for two seasons.
It was not immediately clear when the Oilers would name a successor.
Mets call up veteran Aardsma from minors
NEW YORK — The Mets added an experienced arm to their scuffling bullpen Saturday, calling up right-hander David Aardsma from Triple-A Las Vegas.
Prized prospect Zack Wheeler might not be far behind.
New York optioned right-hander Collin McHugh to its top farm team to make room for Aardsma, who saved 69 games for Seattle from 2009-10 before sitting out the 2011 season due to hip and elbow operations. He had Tommy John surgery in July 2011 and made it back to the majors for one game last September with the New York Yankees.
Nationwide race postponed until Sunday
NEWTON, Iowa — The NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Iowa Speedway has been postponed until 10 a.m. CDT Sunday because of rain.
The race was set to begin at 7 p.m. Saturday night, but rain began falling about 40 minutes before the scheduled start.
Workers were nearly finished drying the track before it started to rain again, forcing officials to push the race back a day.
Austin Dillon will start first after winning the pole for the third week in a row, followed by Sam Hornish Jr., Brian Scott and Brian Vickers.
Kane hat trick sends Blackhawks to finals
CHICAGO — Patrick Kane scored his third goal of the game 11:40 into the second overtime period and the Chicago Blackhawks beat the defending champion Los Angeles Kings 4-3 to advance to the Stanley Cup finals on Saturday night.
Corey Crawford made 33 saves and Duncan Keith scored in his return from a suspension as the top-seeded Blackhawks eliminated the Kings in five games in the Western Conference finals.
Chicago will host the Eastern champion Boston Bruins in Game 1 on Wednesday night. Boston completed a sweep of the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday night.
This is the first finals matchup of Original Six franchises since 1979, and it will pit two of the last three champions against each other.
Chicago won the Cup in 2010, ending a 49-year drought. Boston captured the title the following year.
From wire sources
