Coaching carousel... continues

So, Jack Capuano is now in the middle-third of NHL coaches by seniority, he is 20th after the Ducks fired Randy Carlyle and replaced him with Bruce Boudreau.

Perhaps Deb Placey said it best, via twitter this morning: @DebPlacey: "Bruce, what are you going to do now that you've been fired? Boudreau: I'm going to Disneyland"

Randy Carlyle has his own place in Islander lore.  Unlike Islander villains (of one sort or another) Kirk Muller and Dale Hunter, both hired on Monday, the departed Ducks coach is best remembered by Islander fans for Game 5 of the 1982 Isles-Penguins series.  Carlyle was penalized at 12:56 of the third with the Pens holding a 3-1 lead.  With 46 seconds left on the ensuing power play, Al Arbour switched goalies, allowing the Isles to rest their offensive players during the then-permitted two-minute warmup. Seconds later, Mike McEwen scored on the powerplay and then John Tonelli scored the tying and overtime-winning goal. The tying goal (with 2:21 to play) came to Tonelli after hopping over Carlyle's stick while the winner also involved Carlyle -- it was his shot that was blocked by Mike McEwen that set up the onslaught ... and celebration... at the other end of the ice.

BTW-- that same night (4/13/82), the Nordiques won their battle of Quebec, eliminating Montreal in overtime.  The goal scorer?  Dale Hunter, of course.

 

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick