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Dec. 6 (UPI) -- Mired in a multigame losing streak, the Philadelphia Flyers fired head coach Alain Vigneault on Monday. Vigneault was in the third season of a five-year deal that paid him $5 million annually, according to ESPN. Assistant coach Mike Yeo was retained and will serve as the club's interim head coach moving forward.
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The Flyers also announced that assistant Michel Therrien was fired.
"Right now, we've lost our way," Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher told reporters Monday.
The coaching changes came after the Flyers suffered an embarrassing 7-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday, extending Philadelphia's losing streak to eight games (0-6-2). Entering Monday night's slate, the Flyers had the second-worst record in the Metropolitan Division at 8-10-4.
In Yeo's first game as interim coach, the Flyers lost 7-5 to the Colorado Avalanche at home Monday night.
Before joining the Flyers in May 2019, the St. Louis Blues fired Yeo as their head coach in November 2018. He joined the Blues as an assistant in 2016 after spending parts of five seasons as coach of the Minnesota Wild.
Yeo guided the Wild to the playoffs in three of his four full seasons, and he was fired 55 games into the 2015-16 campaign.
"This is an opportunity for me to prove that I've grown," Yeo said Monday.
Vigneault was hired by the Flyers in April 2019 and joined the organization after numerous head-coaching stops. The 2007 Jack Adams Award winner previously coached the New York Rangers, Vancouver Canucks and Montreal Canadiens and reached the Stanley Cup Finals twice.
