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RALEIGH, N.C. - The Carolina Hurricanes hope they now have the leadership tandem in place to turn the franchise around. Bill Peters was introduced Friday as the Hurricanes new coach, the first big hire made by new Carolina general manager Ron Francis. Now its up to Peters to prove it was shrewd move. Carolina has made three coaching changes since 2006 and has only one playoff appearance to show for it. "When I did my due diligence and went to look at rosters ... were not far off," Peters said. "I think theres lots of pieces here and its up to us and our coaching staff ... to max our group out." He replaces Kirk Muller, who was fired last month — a week into Francis tenure as GM — and went 80-80-27 in three seasons with no playoff berths. Instead of an established NHL head coach or a popular ex-player, Francis went with Peters — a 48-year-old Detroit Red Wings assistant who has never been an NHL head coach but was in demand this off-season. Peters said he interviewed for two other jobs and Francis says he spoke to 10 candidates during "a pretty extensive search," narrowing that to a three-man short list before deciding on Peters and giving him a three-year contract. "You have to take the time to go through it and make sure you get the right guy," Francis said, "and thats what we did." What dazzled Francis was Peters attention to detail: He penned a booklet breaking down the team and brought it to his first interview with them, and his second one included a PowerPoint presentation, Francis said. "Hes extremely, extremely detailed," Francis said. "Hes going to communicate with our players. Our players are going to know where he stands, and theres no little detail that (will) be overlooked." From the outside, his challenge looks daunting: Making the Hurricanes a consistent playoff team. Muller couldnt do it in three years. Neither could Paul Maurice, at least during his second stint with the team. Even Peter Laviolette — the only Carolina coach to hoist the Stanley Cup — couldnt get the Hurricanes back in the post-season. Now Peters gets his chance to try to revive a club that has missed the playoffs in seven of the eight years since the Hurricanes won their only Stanley Cup in 2006. The lone post-season berth since that Cup run came in 2009, when the Hurricanes reached the Eastern Conference final in the first year of Maurices second term as coach. Peters plan is to address three glaring problems from last season: Starting games strong, producing more on the power play and winning more often at PNC Arena. Carolina was the leagues third-worst team with the man advantage and was just 18-17-6 at home. "Weve got to become a harder team to play against here in Raleigh," Peters said. His hiring caps about two months of turbulence in the Hurricanes organization. Francis, a Hall of Fame player who has been both an assistant coach and an assistant GM with Carolina, was moved up a rung on the organizations ladder and his mentor, Jim Rutherford, stepped aside after two decades — and eventually wound up bolting to Pittsburgh to take over as the Penguins GM. Francis first big move came a week later when he fired Muller and put the players on notice that the responsibility for turning the team around is on them, too. After a 46-day search in which some recognizable names were floated, Francis plucked Peters from Mike Babcocks staff with the Red Wings. He spent the past three years working primarily with the Red Wings defencemen and penalty killers. Before joining the Red Wings staff, he coached Rockford of the AHL from 2008-11 and guiding that team to consecutive 40-win seasons. Eight of his Rockford players helped Chicago win the Cup in either 2010 or 2013, and he also coached Spokane (Washington) of the Western Hockey League for three seasons. "This is a guy that knows coaching," Francis said. ___ Follow Joedy McCreary on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joedyap Vapormax Clearance Sale . Kelli Stack and Alex Carpenter also scored for the Americans, who avoided a repeat of Finlands upset at the Four Nations Cup in Lake Placid, N.Y., in November. Finnish goalie Noora Raty made 58 saves in that one, but the three-time Olympian could stop just 40 of 43 U. Nike Vapormax Wholesale China .5 million. University officials released the term sheet signed by Harsin Wednesday, the day the former Broncos walk-on player and Boise native was named the successor to Chris Petersen, who left for Washington last week. http://www.airvapormaxnz.com/vapormax-97-sale-nz.html . Phoenix originally signed Barbosa to a 10-day contract on Jan. 8 after Eric Bledsoe injured his knee and then signed him to another 10-day deal. Air Max Plus 97 Nz . Jannero Pargo scored 14 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter to help the Charlotte Bobcats erase a 21-point deficit and rally for an 83-76 preseason victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday night. Buy Nike Vapormax Nz . On paper, it looks a little like Andre the Giant taking on a midget wrestler. It has all the makings of a rout with the Americans adding an eighth win in nine outings of this biennial event. The Yanks have eight players in the top 15 in the world while the Internationals have just one. TORONTO -- James van Riemsdyk tugged at the Toronto Maple Leafs logo on his chest, mimicking the celebration P.K. Subban made after an overtime goal two nights earlier. That wasnt a coincidence. Van Riemsdyk was on edge after some taunting from the Montreal Canadiens defenceman but waited until after scoring the game-winning goal Saturday night before letting that emotion show through. It was tension that was building throughout a 5-3 Leafs victory that was a showcase for the rivalry. "Im usually not one to engage in stuff like that, but I was a little bit fired up," van Riemsdyk said. "It just kind of happened." Those are the things that happen when the juices are flowing and emotions are heightened as they were for this game between the Leafs and Habs. Of the 19,667 fans in attendance, more than a few were cheering for Montreal, and it made for a much more raucous atmosphere than usual at Air Canada Centre. "If you dont get shivers and chills on Toronto-Montreal on a Saturday night on Hockey Night in Canada, either in Montreal or Toronto, then I dont think you understand the true meaning of the game here in Canada," Leafs coach Randy Carlyle said after his teams season-high fourth consecutive victory. With the teams trading chances back and forth, it was an excellent example of what the NHL is supposed to offer. And even though eight total goals were scored, neither the Leafs Jonathan Bernier (30 saves on 33 shots), nor possible Canadian Olympic starter Carey Price of the Habs (25 saves on 29 shots) could be faulted. Instead, this was a case of two offences getting the job done. Before van Riemsdyk scored the game-winner at 14:27 of the third, Cody Franson, Phil Kessel and Mason Raymond also scored for the Leafs (25-20-5), while Brendan Gallagher, Brian Gionta and David Desharnais scored for the Habs (27-17-5). "Were a team that was pushing the pace and we were skating well," Montreal coach Michel Therrien said. "Individual mistakes cost games. Thats where its disappointing. We give goals. Theyre not even supposed to be scoring chances." But scoring chances were readily available. Toronto centre Nazem Kadri had two of the games best passes, setting up Franson for the Leafs first goal and then Raymond for his on the power play. It was a breakout night for Kadri, who has been the subject of criticism and trade rumours lately. "I wanted to come out and have a big game," Kadri said. "Obviously the magnitude of this game was huge. For us to chase that top spot in the division is still a realistic goal for us." The Leafs victory moved them to within four points of the third-place Habs. They still trail the Atlantic Division-leading Boston Bruins by seven points and have played three more games. But when the focus was on one game against rival Montreal, the Leafs brought close to their A-game. Carlyle called their start by far the best of the season, while Gionta wasnt thrilled with how he and his teammates responded. "The first 10 minutes we were fairly slow getting going, but after that I thought we diid a good job of forcing the play and getting some good chances," Montreals captain said.dddddddddddd "Its definitely a tough one to lose." It wouldve been a tough one for the Leafs to lose after their strong start and considering the emotional investment. "That was a statement game for this team," Kadri said. "Its the Montreal Canadiens. Theyre one of the better teams in the conference and obviously theyre ahead of us in the division, as well. The rivalry speaks for itself. We wanted to come out here, home ice, and give these fans something to cheer about." Montreal fans had something to cheer about early thanks to stellar goaltending from Price, who kept the Habs in the game despite being out-shot by a wide margin. Chants of "Carey" became jeering ones later on when Leafs fans got on him, loud enough that the goalie at the other end could hear them. "The crowd was pretty amazing tonight," Bernier said. "It felt like a playoff game." No Leafs players were alive the last time the Leafs and Habs met in the playoffs -- 1979. Only Montreals Gionta, Andrei Markov, Daniel Briere and Francis Boullion had been born by then. But a lack of recent playoff history didnt seem to hurt Saturday night, thanks in part to Subban skating by the bench after Gallaghers goal and giving the Leafs some motivation. "He was saying some stuff to our bench and we werent thrilled about that," van Riemsdyk said. "Its hockey. Hes got to do what hes got to do -- hes a great player, its fun to play against players like that. Obviously theres some emotions that were flying around out there." Subban did not speak to reporters after the loss. He was a central topic of conversation in hockey circles since his celebration of an overtime goal against the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night brought some criticism. Subban flashed the crest on his jersey a few times before going down the tunnel. Don Cherry said on "Hockey Night in Canada" that "all (Subban) does is pump up the other team." "He has to stop that stuff," Cherry said. "Its absolutely ridiculous." Van Riemsdyk wouldnt even go that far, choosing instead to show Subban up after scoring his 19th goal of the season. "If they wanted to play that game, then well play it, too," van Riemsdyk said. Van Riemsdyk insisted popping his jersey wasnt a pre-meditated act. Instead, it was the release of a build-up of emotions that went beyond just redirecting Tyler Bozaks pass past Price. Asked earlier in the day about goal celebrations, van Riemsdyk said that he preferred an understated approach. His teammates didnt mind when he veered from that just once. "Obviously you get excited when you score," Kadri said. "Thats on JvR -- he likes scoring goals, so more power to him." NOTES -- Joonas Nattinen made his NHL debut for Montreal and played 1:45, all in the first period. Nattinen replaced Rene Bourque, who was a healthy scratch. ... Toronto called up Troy Bodie from its AHL affiliate to replace the injured David Clarkson. ' ' '