Constantine Out, Brooks In as Coach of the Penguins

The Pittsburgh Penguins, in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 1990, fired coach Kevin Constantine on Thursday and hired Herb Brooks, who coached the famed 1980 “Miracle on Ice” U.S. Olympic team.

General Manager Craig Patrick, who fired Brooks as the New York Ranger coach in 1985, made the change in consultation with owner Mario Lemieux after deciding Constantine had lost control of a talented but underachieving team.

A few hours after Patrick made the change, the Penguins stopped a losing streak at three games by beating Washington, 3-0, in Brooks’ first regular-season game since April 16, 1993, with New Jersey.

“I was very, very happy with their attitude on the bench and in the locker room,” Brooks said. “I told them I’m here because I believe in their talents and we’re going to play a very aggressive style, but play very intelligently.”

Constantine, in the final year of a three-year contract, sensed a change was coming after he wasn’t offered an extension. He could be heard yelling to his team after a 5-2 loss last week to San Jose: “If you’re trying to get me fired, you’re doing a good job of it.”

The Penguins reached the playoffs in Constantine’s two full seasons, upsetting Eastern Conference regular-season champion New Jersey last season. But they were 8-14-3 with four regulation ties before Thursday.

“My sense was, right now, we’re a losing team and I didn’t see that changing,” said Patrick, Brooks’ assistant coach on the 1980 gold-medal-winning U.S. Olympic team. “I looked at the standings like anybody else. I can see what the product’s doing on the ice.”

Brooks, 62, was an innovative coach for the Rangers from 1981-85, bringing a wide-open European style to a league accustomed to the more deliberate Canadian style. But his record with the Rangers, Minnesota North Stars (1987-88) and New Jersey (1992-93) is a modest 190-198-61, and he never won a Stanley Cup.

Brooks’ style could mesh well with a Penguin lineup filled with foreign-born players, including three-time NHL scoring champion Jaromir Jagr, Darius Kasparaitis, Alexei Kovalev and Martin Straka.

OTHER GAMES

Eric Lindros had a hat trick for Philadelphia in a 4-2 victory over Toronto, which is winless in its last seven road games. Philadelphia acquired forward Eric Bertrand from Atlanta for forward Brian Wesenberg before the game. . . . Bill Ranford had 35 saves for Edmonton in a 2-2 tie at Boston. . . . Martin Rucinsky had two goals and an assist for Montreal in a 4-2 victory over the New York Islanders at Uniondale, N.Y. . . . Martin Brodeur stopped 23 shots for his second shutout of the season and Jason Arnott scored a pair of power-play goals for New Jersey in a 4-0 victory at Chicago.