NHL

The Arizona Coyotes have hired St. Louis assistant GM Bill Armstrong as their next general manager.

Commissioner Gary Bettman determined the organization broke the rules by physically testing prospects outside of the combine, which is prohibited “to ensure competitive fairness among clubs with respect to evaluating and drafting prospects and to avoid subjecting prospects to repeated and duplicative testing procedures.”

The Coyotes managed to keep the first three games close thanks to Darcy Kuemper’s stellar goaltending but were viciously bounced out of the Edmonton bubble by a combined score of 14-2 in the final two games.

Nathan MacKinnon had two goals and two assists, Nazem Kadri also scored twice and the Avalanche routed the Coyotes 7-1 on August 19 to close out the first-round playoff series in five games.

Nazem Kadri had two goals and an assist, Philipp Grubauer stopped 14 shots and the Avalanche overwhelmed the Coyotes 7-1 Monday to take a 3-1 lead their first-round playoff series.

Now up 2-1 instead of 3-0 against Arizona, the Avalanche need to figure out how to get in front of Darcy Kuemper more or the series could end up tied after Monday’s Game 4.

Nazem Kadri and J.T. Compher scored 10 seconds apart in the third period, Philipp Grubauer stopped 14 shots and Colorado opened the best-of-seven playoffs with a 3-0 victory over the Coyotes on Aug. 12.

The Arizona Coyotes are going to take on the Colorado Avalanche in the first round of the NHL playoffs on Wednesday.

The win, which clinched the series 3-1, puts Arizona into the next round against Colorado.

The Arizona Coyotes are advancing in the postseason after an overtime win of 4-3 against the Nashville Predators.

Now the Coyotes, seeded 11th in the West in the NHL’s restart, can eliminate the sixth-seeded Predators in Game 4 on Friday in this best-of-five qualifying series.

Ryan Johansen had a goal and an assist, Juuse Saros stopped 24 shots and the Predators jumped on the Arizona Coyotes early in a 4-2 win on Tuesday to even their Stanley Cup qualifier series.

Ekman-Larsson scored the first of Arizona’s three first-period goals, Darcy Kuemper stopped 40 shots and the Coyotes held on to beat the Predators 4-3 Sunday to open their Stanley Cup qualifier series.

The inopportune timing puts the Coyotes in the position of having to prepare for what should be a tough postseason series against the Predators while trying to shake off yet another off-ice distraction.

The last time the Coyotes were in the playoffs, they reached the Western Conference finals by beating Nashville in five games. The Predators have reached the postseason each of the past five seasons but lost in six games to Dallas in the first round in April 2019.