The KHL says it was never apprised of any matter pertaining to Andrei Nazarov's recent abuse allegation regarding Artemi Panarin.

The league has "not been aware of or received a complaint in relation to any incident involving Artemi Panarin in December 2011," the KHL said in a statement to ESPN's Emily Kaplan.

If a complaint had been made, the league insisted Wednesday it would have investigated, "as we take any allegations of misconduct incredibly seriously."

Panarin is at his home in Connecticut and doesn't intend to fly home to Russia at the moment, reports Kaplan.

The New York Rangers star stepped away from the team indefinitely Monday in the wake of Nazarov's allegation that Panarin got into a physical altercation with an 18-year-old woman on a KHL road trip to Riga, Latvia. The Rangers called the story "fabricated" and "unfounded," while throwing their full support behind the forward.

No evidence has been presented, no victim has come forward, and no court or police records have been found that would corroborate Nazarov's allegation since Panarin took leave, according to Kaplan.

Nazarov, a former NHLer who coached Panarin with KHL club Vityaz at the time, is a known supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Panarin has shown solidarity with opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was sentenced to more than three years in prison earlier this month after being poisoned over the summer.

The Rangers believe Nazarov's claims are in retaliation for Panarin's Instagram post in January, according to Kaplan. Panarin captioned the post "freedom for Navalny" in Russian.

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said the league is also looking into the allegations.

Several of Panarin's former teammates with Vityaz questioned the allegations and defended him Tuesday.

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Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin explained his decision to fire head coach Claude Julien on Wednesday.

"I had talks with Claude in the last little while and I know the message he was telling the players and what was happening was not the same," Bergevin said, according to NHL.com's Dan Rosen. "It happens in all sports. Claude is a very good coach, it's just at some point the player needs a new voice."

The Canadiens won just two of their last eight games after starting the season 7-1-2. Bergevin said he saw his team trending in the wrong direction and decided to act before things got worse.

"We had two eight-game losing streaks last year, and I saw a pattern I didn't want to repeat," he said, according to The Athletic's Marc Antoine Godin.

Bergevin said the shortened season played a role in making the move when he did.

He added that his decision to promote assistant Dominique Ducharme to interim head coach wasn't impacted by COVID-19.

"Quarantine, no quarantine, Dom was my guy from the time I made my decision," he said.

Bergevin also said he won't be interviewing head coaching candidates and that Ducharme will remain interim head coach for the rest of the campaign and be evaluated after.

Ducharme is the Canadiens' third head coach under Bergevin's reign.

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The Montreal Canadiens fired head coach Claude Julien and associate coach Kirk Muller on Wednesday, the team announced.

Assistant Dominique Ducharme will take over as head coach on an interim basis.

Montreal started the season 7-1-2 but has just two wins in its last eight games. The Canadiens are coming off back-to-back losses to the Ottawa Senators and are now 1-1-2 against the North Division's last-place team this season.

"I would like to sincerely thank Claude and Kirk for their contributions to our team over the past five years during which we worked together," general manager Marc Bergevin said. "I have great respect for these two men whom I hold in high regard."

This marks the second time Montreal has fired Julien. His first stint with the club ended during the 2005-06 campaign after parts of three seasons.

Julien failed to lead the Canadiens past the first round of the playoffs during his second tour of duty with Montreal, though the team did upset the Pittsburgh Penguins in last year's qualifying round.

The 60-year-old owns a 201-175-10-50 record across his two stints with the Canadiens and ranks fifth on the team's all-time wins list.

Ducharme, meanwhile, was in his third season as Julien's assistant. He's best known for serving as Canada's head coach at the world juniors in 2017 and 2018, helping the team win silver at the former and gold at the latter.

"In Dominique Ducharme, we see a very promising coach who will bring new life and new energy to our group," Bergevin said. "We feel that our team can achieve high standards, and the time had come for a change. "

Former NHLer Alex Burrows, who previously served as an assistant coach with the AHL's Laval Rocket, will join Ducharme's staff. Luke Richardson and Stephane Waite are staying on as assistant coach and goalie coach, respectively.

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In the second edition of theScore's 2021 Vezina Trophy Power Rankings, we get an early look at which netminders have been at the top of their game this season.

GAA = Goals against average
xGA/60 = Expected goals against per 60 minutes
SV% = Save percentage
HDSV% = High-danger save percentage
GSAA = Goals saved above average

*Goaltenders must play a minimum of 10 games to qualify

5. Kevin Lankinen, Blackhawks

Lankinen is coming off a pair of subpar starts, but his incredibly consistent play throughout most of the season has been the catalyst for a surprisingly strong start for the re-tooling Blackhawks. He owns the league's fifth-best goals saved above average and has played the seventh-most minutes among all goalies. The rookie will likely receive plenty of Calder Trophy consideration if he continues to make a significant impact.

4. Semyon Varlamov, Islanders

Varlamov was due to regress after an absurd start to the campaign, but the Islanders puck-stopper has continued to look sharp despite his opponents' strength in the East division. The Russian is among the top-five netminders in every individual statistic above and has allowed more than three goals in just one game this season. He's also tied for the league lead with three shutouts.

3. Andrei Vasilevskiy, Lightning

The 2019 Vezina Trophy winner continues to prove he's arguably the best goaltender in the world. Vasilevskiy is tied for second in wins and hasn't dropped consecutive games in regulation all season. It's worth mentioning that his recent five-game winning streak came against two of the league's worst teams, but Vasilevskiy has long proven his elite status and shouldn't be penalized for the lighter schedule.

2. Philipp Grubauer, Avalanche

Grubauer often gets overshadowed by his star-studded Avalanche teammates, but he's been red-hot between the pipes all season. The German netminder conceded just 10 goals over his last seven starts and has allowed three or more goals in only three games this campaign. Grubauer will be in a terrific position to capture his first career Vezina Trophy if he continues at this rate.

1. Marc-Andre Fleury, Golden Knights

Fleury is far from finished. The 36-year-old remains at the top of his game in his 17th season, and his dominant play has kept the Golden Knights near the top of the standings while Robin Lehner recovers from injury. Fleury has held opponents to just one goal or less in over half of his starts this campaign and paces all puck-stoppers in goals-against average, save percentage, and goals saved above average.

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Brendan Gallagher wasn't happy after officials disallowed what would have been the winning goal for his Montreal Canadiens against the Ottawa Senators in the dying seconds of regulation.

Phillip Danault appeared to score with about two seconds remaining in the third period to give the Canadiens a 5-4 lead, but the NHL's Situation Room initiated a goaltender interference review and nixed the goal. The game ultimately went to overtime, and the Senators won in a shootout.

The league explained postgame that Gallagher "impaired Ottawa goaltender Matt Murray's ability to play his position in the crease prior to the puck entering the net."

Gallagher disagreed with that assessment.

"I get knocked on my ass - I have time to reset, you can't tell me the goalie doesn't have time to reset," the Canadiens forward said, according to Sportsnet's Eric Engels.

Gallagher added that the NHL shows teams a video depicting goaltender interference every season, and he saw one in which Toronto Maple Leafs netminder Frederik Andersen got pushed but was able to recover, so the goal stood. Gallagher said the officials received the same video, and he wasn't happy about what he viewed as inconsistency in that regard.

The veteran forward believes video reviews have had a negative effect on the sport.

"To me, it's ruined the product," he said, according to The Athletic's Arpon Basu.

Tuesday's disallowed goal was the second controversial ruling impacting the Canadiens in a span of three days. On Saturday night, the NHL initially upheld a Montreal goal that cut the Maple Leafs' lead to 4-3 in the second period. However, the Leafs then challenged the play for goalie interference, and the goal was overturned. Toronto won that contest 5-3.

Canadiens head coach Claude Julien chose not to use a coach's challenge following the official review Tuesday night.

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Pittsburgh Penguins forward Jason Zucker was forced out of Tuesday's 3-2 victory against the Washington Capitals after suffering an apparent leg injury late in the game.

Zucker had to be helped off the ice by trainers and didn't appear to be putting any pressure on his leg. Head coach Mike Sullivan didn't have an update on Zucker's status postgame, only saying he's being evaluated for a lower-body injury.

The 29-year-old has recorded four goals and three assists in 18 games this season.

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