Red Star pulls plug on Keenan after just eight months

Just eight months after being hired, Mike Keenan was fired as head coach of Shanghai-based Kunlun Red Star on Sunday.

Hours later, with interim replacement Bobby Carpenter behind the bench, China's lone entry in the Russia-based Kontinental Hockey League ended a nine-game losing streak with a 4-3 overtime win at Amur - after blowing a 3-0 lead.

Carpenter, 54, who Keenan hired as an assistant after taking the reins in March, played 1,178 games in the NHL and won three Stanley Cups with the New Jersey Devils, including two as an assistant bench boss.