Robinson Resigns as Coach of Devils

Larry Robinson resigned as coach of the New Jersey Devils on Monday because of stress and “horrible headaches,” two days after his team lost for the seventh time in nine games.

Lou Lamoriello, the Devils’ president and general manager, said he would take over for Robinson on a temporary basis. New Jersey’s next game is tonighty, against the New York Rangers.

Robinson, a Hall of Fame defenseman who coached the Devils to the Stanley Cup championship in 2000, returned to the team in July.

New Jersey is 14-13-5 and fourth in the Atlantic Division.

“A lot of things were getting to me. I want this team to be successful, but if I can’t be at my best and it’s bothering me health-wise, I can’t do that,” he said.

Robinson, 54, missed two games this month because of flu and sinus problems. He said he continued to have what he called “horrible headaches” and recently underwent tests, including a CT scan. He was told the symptoms were stress-related.

Robinson, a star with Montreal in the 1970s and ‘80s, took over as coach last summer after Pat Burns was diagnosed with cancer. Before taking the job, Robinson had served as a special assignment coach with the Devils for three years.

Robinson was the Kings’ head coach from 1995 to 1999.

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Mario Lemieux will be out of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ lineup indefinitely and won’t practice for 10 days to two weeks as doctors adjust the medication he began taking this month for an irregular heartbeat. Lemieux’s pulse began racing again Friday night during an overtime loss to Buffalo, his first game back after being hospitalized Dec. 7 because of atrial fibrillation.

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Phyllis Gretzky, the mother of hockey Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky, died Monday night. She was 64.

She was diagnosed with lung cancer late in 2004 and died two nights after her son took an indefinite leave of absence as coach of the Phoenix Coyotes to return home to Ontario to be with her.

“Throughout my career, she was in the background but she was the glue,” Wayne Gretzky said at the time of his mother’s diagnosis.