NHL notebook: Flames fire Gulutzan

Gulutzan had been with the Flames the past two seasons. He led Calgary to an
37-35-10 record this season, with a stretch of seven consecutive losses in
March causing the team to miss the playoffs.

"He didn't get our team to the point that I thought we needed to get to,"
Flames general manager Brad Treliving said. "I thought we underperformed and
we had players that underperformed."

Gulutzan, 46, previously coached the Dallas Stars for parts of two seasons
from 2011-13. He has a 146-125-23 career record in the NHL.

--Philadelphia Flyers center Sean Couturier apparently injured his right leg
in a collision with defenseman Radko Gudas at practice, putting his
availability for Wednesday's Game 4 against the Pittsburgh Penguins in
question.

Couturier was skating toward the goal with his head down as Gudas, involved in
a separate drill, inadvertently skated backward into Couturier's path.
Couturier's right leg clipped the back of Gudas' left leg.

Couturier, 25, has averaged 24:35 of ice time through three postseason games,
leading the team in points (three) in the first-round series. He tallied 76
points (31 goals, 45 assists) in the regular season.

--Penguins forward Patric Hornqvist will miss Game 4 against the Flyers due to
an upper-body injury.

Hornqvist and defenseman Kris Letang were absent from the off-day skate, but
Letang is expected to be available Wednesday.

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan would not disclose when or how Hornqvist's injury
occurred. The forward has one goal and two assists in three games this series
after having 29 goals and 20 assists in the regular season.

--Minnesota Wild forward Zach Parise missed Game 4 of the first-round playoff
series against the Winnipeg Jets due to a fractured sternum.

The Wild said Parise is "week-to-week," with The Athletic reporting he will be
sidelined six to eight weeks. Parise had 24 points (15 goals, nine assists)
during the regular season but missed the first 39 games after undergoing back
surgery.

Parise apparently was injured in the third period Sunday when he was trying to
catch a puck near the blue line and was sandwiched by Winnipeg players Mark
Scheifele and Ben Chiarot.

--Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets, Pekka Rinne of the Nashville
Predators and Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning were named
finalists for the 2017-18 Vezina Trophy, the NHL announced.

Hellebuyck, 24, is a Vezina finalist for the first time after tying for the
league lead with 44 victories. He was third with six shutouts, tied for eighth
with a 2.36 goals-against average and was ninth with a .924 save percentage.

Rinne is a four-time finalist but has never won the award. The 35-year-old
tied for the league lead with eight shutouts, ranked third in victories (42),
fifth in GAA (2.31) and tied for sixth in save percentage (.931).

Vasilevskiy, 23, is a first-time finalist who matched Rinne for the league
lead in shutouts and Hellebuyck for the lead in victories. He placed 13th with
a 2.62 goals-against average and tied for 13th in save percentage (.920).

--Longtime New York Rangers national anthem singer John Amirante died at the
age of 83. The cause of death was not reported.

Amirante, who was born in the Bronx, performed for the Rangers from 1980 until
he retired in 2015, though he would occasionally return for guest appearances
after ceding the role. His last performance at Madison Square Garden was on
Feb. 25 prior to the Rangers hosting the Detroit Red Wings.

--Field Level Media