Around the NHL: Bruins fire Julien; Flyers' Konecny out with injury

   The Boston Bruins are part of the teams that are fighting for the 2nd wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, but have missed the playoffs by 1 point in the last 2 years. They are tied for third in the Atlantic Division with the Toronto Maple Leafs with 58 points, but the Leafs have 4 games in hand on the B's. Their season has been really so-so, and they fired head coach Claude Julien Tuesday. He was the longest tenured coach in the NHL up until the firing. "First of all, I want to thank Claude and acknowledge the level of success he has achieved as coach of the Boston Bruins," GM Don Sweeney said. Bruce Cassidy was named interim head coach of the squad.

     The Philadelphia Flyers, like the Bruins, are in that race for the second wild card spot. They are currently in that spot, with 59 points. Coach Dave Hakstol questionably has sit defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere for the last 3 games. Hakstol also sat RW Travis Konecny for 2 games, but decided that he would play in Monday's game vs. St. Louis. But in that game, Konecny sustained an injury, which will keep him out of the lineup for about 4-6 weeks. The 19 year old is in his first season in the NHL, with 7 goals, 15 assists (22 points) in 51 games this season. He is a -4 in those games. He could have been returned to the Ottawa 67's, his OHL team, before 9 NHL games, so 1 year off his entry level contract wasn't wasted, but it was. LW Matt Read, who sat for Konecny Monday, will play in Thursday's game against the New York Islanders. So far, no one has been called up from AHL Lehigh Valley, but forward options to recall are Jordan Weal, Scott Laughton, Colin McDonald, or Taylor Leier.