Johnston Out, Patrick Back In

With the Pittsburgh Penguins slumping and Mario Lemieux’s influence apparently fading in what he says will be his final season, Eddie Johnston is out again as coach, and General Manager Craig Patrick is in again as his interim replacement.

The Penguins fired Johnston, whom Lemieux had pushed for the job, on Monday, and Patrick will coach the last 20 games of the season and the playoffs. He will try to turn around a team that has lost eight of its last nine games.

“We’ve got a ship that’s off course and listing, and we’ve got to get it back on course,” Patrick said.

Patrick was the Penguins’ interim coach from 1989 to 1990, replacing Gene Ubriaco.

The Penguins are second to Buffalo in the Northeast Division and fifth overall in the Eastern Conference standings. Johnston, who is 232-224-60 in 6 1/2 seasons in two separate stints with the Penguins, will work as Patrick’s assistant in the general manager’s office.

Pittsburgh, which lost to Florida in seven games in the Eastern Conference finals last season, is 31-26-5, including two slumps and the 14-0-2 run of rookie goalie Patrick Lalime.

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Avalanche goaltender Patrick Roy was charged with fighting after an altercation with a fellow patron in a hotel nightclub bar in Colorado Springs early Sunday morning.

Roy was staying at the Broadmoor Hotel with other Avalanche players and coaches and their families to to attend a Sunday charity event for the Children’s Hospital of Denver.

Police said that Roy and Kevin Morris, 31, a Colorado Springs computer programmer, were charged, ticketed and released after a dispute over music in the bar. Both face a maximum fine of $500 and 90 days in jail.