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RALEIGH, N. Mike Pouncey Green Jersey .C. -- Ron Francis wasted little time putting his stamp on the Carolina Hurricanes. One week into his new job as general manager, Francis fired coach Kirk Muller and most of his staff. Now leading a franchise that has made the playoffs just once in eight years, Francis cited the need for a "fresh start" and warned that nobody on the roster -- from the marquee names, to the grinders at the end of the bench -- is untouchable. "I dont think changing the coaches lets the players off the hook," Francis said. "I think there has to be a lot of responsibility on their shoulders as well to turn this thing around. Hopefully we can do that going forward." Francis, a Hall of Fame player and former captain and assistant coach with the Hurricanes, took control of the team last week when Jim Rutherford stepped aside after a two-decade run as its GM. As part of his first big housecleaning move, assistants John MacLean and Dave Lewis also were fired and goaltending coach Greg Stefan was reassigned back to the teams pro scouting department. Rod BrindAmour, a third-year assistant who was the captain of Carolinas only Stanley Cup-winning team in 2006, was retained because Francis said "Roddy really didnt have, in my estimation, a prominent role on this staff." Francis says its "an open search at this point," is looking for "a guy whos a teacher" with strong communication and leadership qualities and ideally would like to hire his new coach before the June 27-28 draft. "I dont really have anybody in mind," he said. "Well start (with) a few names were putting on the list, and well go forward looking at that list and see who is the best fit for our team going forward." Muller was 80-80-27 in three seasons with the Hurricanes, who havent made the playoffs since 2009, the longest active drought in the Eastern Conference. Carolina finished 13th in the 16-team East this season. "The biggest thing was our inconsistency," Francis said. "Some nights we looked like a great team and other nights, we really struggled, looked like we didnt know how to play the game at times." Muller, 48, made six All-Star teams during a 19-year career with six clubs, most notably New Jersey and Montreal. He had never been a head coach in the NHL and was in his first season coaching the Milwaukee Admirals of the AHL when he was hired during the 2011-12 season to replace the fired Paul Maurice. The relentlessly positive Muller spent the past month in limbo, saying in mid-April that upper management had not told him anything about his job status and that he was going about his business as if he would remain the coach. While owner Peter Karmanos Jr. said late in the season that he liked the coaching staff, he added last week that it would be entirely Francis call whether to retain Muller. During his formal introduction as GM, Francis said his impending decision on Mullers status "needs due process." Mullers final year was plagued by subpar years from the four highest-paid players on the roster -- forwards Alexander Semin and Eric and Jordan Staal, and goalie Cam Ward. When Ward was asked during his exit interview if it was tough for Muller to get his message across in the dressing room, the goalie said "for me, obviously, Im going to avoid that one." Francis said he didnt sense much friction between Muller and the players. "You look at our team, theres guys who didnt play well. They were told that by us in the exit meetings," the GM said. "Theres always going to be situations where, as a player, if you dont like the coach, youve still got to perform." http://www.authenticdolphinsshop.com/Elite-Mike-Pouncey-Miami-Dolphins-Jersey-Mens-Nike-Nfl-51-Team-Alternate-Two-Tone-63 .4 seconds remaining, to lift the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 101-98 win over the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night. Reggie Jackson scored 14 points and had two clutch free throws of his own with 10. http://www.authenticdolphinsshop.com/Jarvis-Landry-Dolphins-Jersey .C. Lions even though incumbent Rob Maver is ready to kick again. Maver, the CFLs scoring leader last year with 185 points, comes off the nine-game injured list this week. KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Salvador Perez has gone from cold to hot in three games. Perez homered and drove in four runs and the Kansas City Royals rallied for a 10-7 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday night. Perezs two-run double off Sergio Santos in the Royals six-run eighth put the Royals ahead. Perezs four RBIs matched his career high. The Royals had scored only four runs in the eighth inning in their first 24 games. Perez, who has three consecutive multi-hit games, homered in the seventh with Alex Gordon aboard to trim Torontos lead to 5-4. He was mired in a 1-for-29 skid before breaking out with seven hits in the past three games. "I see a couple of sliders and a couple of split-finger then they made a mistake on a fastball a little inside and up and I hit it pretty good," Perez said. The Royals sent 10 men to the plate in the eighth, which also included Omar Infante driving in two runs after collecting six RBIs on Sunday. Nori Aoki and Jarrod Dyson added RBI singles. "Thats the motto in here, never give up and always play like were in it," Dyson said. "You just need to scratch one, scratch two and we gained momentum and just took off from there. It was all momentum. Salvador put us back in there. That was the game-changer right there. We kind of knew we were coming back after that." Aaron Crow (1-1), the third of four Royals pitchers, picked up the victory with a scoreless eighth inning and has not allowed an earned run while allowing only five hits in nine innings this season. Brett Cecil (0-2) took the loss, retiring only two of the five batters he faced. The Blue Jays bullpen gave up seven runs in two innings after starter Dustin McGowan left the game. "We just got hit tonight," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said of his relievers. "We had an off day yesterday so they were fresh. We didnt help things out. We let guys take the extra base by missing the cutoff man. Youre not going to win that way. Weve proved that we can play good defeence. http://www.authenticdolphinsshop.com/Billy-Turner-Dolphins-Jersey. ." Jose Bautista homered for the Blue Jays off Royals left-hander Jason Vargas and has reached base in all 26 games. Melky Cabrera extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a double and triple, and drove in two Toronto runs. He tops the majors with 41 hits. Cabreras triple in the fifth scored Jose Reyes, who had doubled. Cabrera scored on Vargas wild pitch, putting the Blue Jays up 3-2. McGowan, who has missed three seasons with injuries, pitched into the seventh inning, holding the Royals to three hits and three runs, two earned. "Im really encouraged," McGowan said. "I went deep into the game. Thats all Ive been wanting to do. Sometimes the results are overshadowed by the innings youve pitched. But good things happen when you get deep in games." The Royals took advantage of two walks and a wild pitch, plus a throwing error on catcher Dioner Navarro to score two runs in the second inning. The Royals won a challenge review in the second, taking away a RBI infield single from Chris Getz. The Royals have scored 19 runs in winning the past two games. "Its going to click; we know that," Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer said of the offence. "Were confident in our group. Weve been getting some timely hits. Its a great thing about this offence. It could be a different guy every day that steps up and has a big night. Salvy obviously had that night tonight." NOTES: Royals LHP Bruce Chen received a shot for a bulging disc in his lower back and will miss a start. Chen will attempt to a throw a side session Thursday and if that goes well would start Saturday against Detroit. ... Getz had his contract purchased from Triple-A Buffalo, where he hit .309 in 18 games. The Jays optioned rookie IF Ryan Goins, who was hitting .150 with two extra-base hits in 60 at-bats, to Buffalo. ... The start of the game was delayed 27 minutes by rain. ... The Royals scored a season-high 10 runs and are 13-0 when scoring four or more runs. ' ' '