Jeremy Colliton was fired as coach of the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday. Nam H. Yuh/Associated Press

CHICAGO — The Chicago Blackhawks fired coach Jeremy Colliton on Saturday, dismissing the former NHL forward with the team off to a rough start in his fourth season.

Colliton, who turns 37 in January, was in the first year of a two-year contract extension.

Assistant coaches Tomas Mitell and Sheldon Brookbank also were let go. Derek King was promoted from the AHL’s Rockford to replace Colliton on an interim basis.

Chicago lost 5-1 at Winnipeg on Friday night, dropping 1-9-2 after beginning the season with playoff aspirations.

Colliton’s dismissal is the latest chapter in a rough stretch for what was once regarded as one of the NHL’s marquee franchises.

The Blackhawks published a report on Oct. 26 that showed senior leaders with the organization largely ignored allegations that assistant coach Brad Aldrich sexually assaulted former first-round pick Kyle Beach during the team’s run to the Stanley Cup title in 2010. Aldrich told investigators the encounter was consensual.

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Stan Bowman, Chicago’s general manager and president of hockey operations, and team executive Al MacIsaac resigned in the wake of the report, and the NHL fined the team $2 million. Joel Quenneville, the Blackhawks’ coach at the time of the alleged assault, stepped down as coach of the Florida Panthers.

The firing of Colliton, by contrast, was prompted by the team’s on-ice performance.

SATURDAY’S GAMES

LIGHTNING 5, SENATORS 3: Steven Stamkos scored his sixth goal of the season to break a tie midway through the third period and Ondrej Palat added game-winner as Tampa Bay won in Ottawa, Ontario.

Victor Hedman, Jan Rutta, and Anthony Cirelli also scored for the Lightning and Brian Elliott stopped 24 shots.

Connor Brown, newly appointed captain Brady Tkachuk, and Logan Shaw scored for Ottawa and Matt Murray made 29 saves.

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Stamkos was left alone at the side of the net as Victor Mete had a defensive breakdown and buried the loose puck.

Shaw tipped in a goal late in the game, but Cirelli added an empty-net goal to seal it.

Trailing 1-0, Brown tied the game for Ottawa early in the second on a fantastic effort at the end of a long shift. Brown forced a turnover inside the zone, drove to the net and beat Elliott up high.

PANTHERS 5, HURRICANES 2: Florida matched the best 11-game start in NHL history and denied Carolina what would have been a league record-tying start of their own, with Anthony Duclair getting two goals and two assists in Sunrise, Florida.

Spencer Knight made 28 saves for Florida (10-0-1), which tied the 1994-95 Pittsburgh Penguins and 2006-07 Buffalo Sabres as the only NHL teams to reach 21 points after 11 games.

Carolina (9-1-0) was bidding to join the 1993-94 Toronto Maple Leafs and those ’06-07 Sabres as the lone teams to start a season 10-0-0. The Hurricanes hadn’t trailed by more than two goals in any of their first nine games, but were down 4-0 in the first period against Florida and couldn’t pull off a comeback.

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RED WINGS 4, SABRES 3: Moritz Seider scored 3:45 into overtime, Tyler Bertuzzi had two goals and two assists, and Detroit rallied to win in Buffalo.

Rookie Lucas Raymond had three assists and Pius Suter added a goal and an assist for the Red Wings. Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 29 shots as Detroit snapped a four-game skid to close out a four-game road trip.

FLYERS 2, CAPITALS 1: Derick Brassard and Sean Couturier scored in the second period, Martin Jones stopped 31 shots and Philadelphia won in Washington.

Brassard, who had just returned to the ice after being penalized for bench interference when he punched Washington’s Garnet Hathaway, scored from the left circle at 11:18, beating Vitek Vanacek. It was his second goal of the season and was assisted by Cam Atkinson and Justin Braun.

Moments later, Jones, who has won each of his three starts this season, stopped Carl Hagelin’s breakaway to keep the Flyers (6-2-2) ahead.

Couturier scored on a rebound after Vanacek deflected Rasmus Ristolainen’s shot at 15:44, making it 2-0. It was Couturier’s fifth goal of the season.

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BLUE JACKETS 4, AVALANCHE 2: Columbus stretched their winning streak to three games, beating Colorado Avalanche 4-2 with a three-goal third period, in Columbus, Ohio.

Oliver Bjorkstrand scored with 30 seconds left in the game, following Cole Sillinger’s goal with 32 seconds earlier and Alexandre Texier’s with about six and a half minutes left. Gabriel Carlsson also scored, while Elvis Merzlikins stopped 33 shots and added an assist for his fifth win this year.

Andre Burakovsky scored twice for the Avalanche, and Darcy Kuemper had 38 saves.

ISLANDERS 2, JETS 0: Anders Lee and Brock Nelson scored, Ilya Sorokin made 24 saves and New York ended Winnipeg’s undefeated string at home with a victory in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Sorokin, playing his ninth consecutive game to start the season, stopped 24 shots for his third shutout — tied for the NHL lead.

Backup goalie Eric Comrie stopped 29 shots for the Jets, falling to 3-1.

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The Islanders (5-2-2) opened the scoring early when Josh Bailey found Lee all alone in front. His wrist shot beat Comrie high to the glove side at 3:12 of the first period.

GOLDEN KNIGHTS 5, CANADIENS 2: Alex Pietrangelo and Chandler Stephenson each had a goal and an assist, and Vegas rallied to win in Montreal, Quebec.

Jonathan Marchessault, Dylan Coghlan and Brayden McNabb also scored for Vegas, which was outshot 20-1 and trailed 2-0 after 20 minutes. Robin Lehner finished with 36 saves.

Nick Suzuki had a goal and an assist, and Tyler Toffoli also scored for Montreal, which fell to 3-10-0 after reaching the Stanley Cup final last season. Jake Allen finished with 13 saves on 16 shots.

Vegas scored three times in the second to take the lead. Pietrangelo got the Golden Knights started with a power-play goal that deflected off Jeff Petry and past Allen at 5:16. It was Vegas’ first with the man-advantage this season.


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