Tippett Meets With Sather

Dave Tippett of the Kings, one of the NHL’s most highly regarded assistant coaches, met with New York Ranger executives Monday in Palm Springs about their vacant head coaching position, NHL sources said. Glen Sather, the Ranger president and general manager, owns a home in Palm Springs.

The 40-year-old Tippett, who oversaw the Kings’ league-leading power play last season, met Saturday with the Dallas Stars about their coaching vacancy.

Jerry Crowe

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From his seat in the stands, injured forward Mikael Renberg likes the Toronto Maple Leafs’ chances in Game 7 tonight against the Ottawa Senators.

“It feels like we have a mental advantage over them,” Renberg said after watching his Toronto teammates practice Monday. “I feel great about us. We have an advantage over them and they know it.”

The Senators lost the only seventh game they’ve played, blowing a 3-2 series lead to Buffalo in the first round in 1997.

The Maple Leafs have won 10 of 18 series that reached a seventh game, rallying from a 3-2 deficit six times.

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Ron Wilson, in his first public comments since he was fired by the Washington Capitals, conceded that his message was probably getting stale after five years as coach.

Wilson was dismissed Friday by General Manager George McPhee, who said the players were starting to “tune things out.”

Said Wilson: “If you have the same core group for a number of years, it’s difficult to keep things interesting and not drone on about the same things. Changing the messenger is probably not a bad idea.”