NHL ROUNDUP : Rangers Fire Coach Before Tying Devils

Not two months ago, the New York Rangers gave Coach Roger Neilson a three-year contract extension. It turned out to be severance pay when the NHL club fired him as coach on Monday.

His replacement on an interim basis is Ron Smith, coach of the club’s Binghamton, N.Y., farm team.

The Rangers, who had lost five of six games to drop into third place in the Patrick Division, gained a 3-3 tie with the New Jersey Devils Monday night at New York in Smith’s first game at the helm.

Colin Campbell, a Ranger assistant coach, was selected to replace Smith at Binghamton.

Neilson remains with the organization as a scout and will work on special assignments.

Shortly after Neilson was fired, he and former Ranger Tie Domi were suspended for two days and fined $500 by the NHL as a result of a premeditated fight with Detroit’s Bob Probert on Dec. 2, 1992.

Gil Stein, NHL president, said that Neilson “planned to and did send Domi on the ice to engage in a premeditated fight with Probert.”

Despite Smith’s interim status with the Rangers, General Manager Neil Smith said the new coach will run the club for at least the remainder of this season.

“He is the right coach for the team right now,” the general manager said. “This is a decision I didn’t expect to make a while ago. It crept up on us through the poor play of the team. I think we have the team that can win and I didn’t want to let this year slip away.”

Neilson was in his fourth season with the Rangers and had a record of 141-104-25. Last season, the team finished 50-25-5, the best record in the NHL, and won the Patrick Division.

The 50 victories was a club record and made Neilson a finalist for the Jack Adams Trophy as the league’s coach of the year. But the Rangers were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs.

Against the Devils Monday night, Alexei Kovalev’s goal early in the third period gave the Rangers a come-from-behind tie.

“If we play that hard for the next 39 games, we’ll win a lot more than we’ll lose,” Smith said. The Ranger who seemed most revitalized after the change was captain Mark Messier. Messier had disagreements with Neilson for weeks before the firing.

“This was the first time in a long time that I’ve had the chance to go out and lead by example,” Messier said. “I played more and was on the ice more in crucial situations.”

Messier set up Tony Amonte’s goal late in the second period to cut New Jersey’s lead to 3-2, then fed Kovalev on a two-on-one break for the tying goal during a power play at 5:56 of the third period.

Messier nearly had a third assist, but Craig Billington stopped Adam Graves’ 10-foot wrist shot from the slot with 1:25 left in overtime.

But the biggest reason the Rangers got the tie was goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck, who made 37 saves and kept the Rangers afloat during long stretches when New Jersey dominated.

The Rangers’ Mike Gartner scored his 561st goal, moving him past Guy Lafleur and into seventh place on the NHL’s all-time goal-scoring list.

Vancouver 7, Tampa Bay 0--Pavel Bure scored twice to give him 34 goals in 38 games as the Canucks beat the Lightning at Vancouver.

Kirk McLean recorded his second consecutive shutout, and third of the season, by stopping 27 shots. Rookie Dixon Ward also scored twice for the Canucks.

The Canucks stretched their unbeaten streak to eight games (7-0-1).

Toronto 4, Detroit 2--Todd Gill had a goal and two assists and Grant Fuhr made 28 saves as the Maple Leafs won at Detroit.

Montreal 4, San Jose 1--The Canadiens scored three times during the third period to put away the Sharks at San Jose.