Struggling Ottawa Senators fire head coach

OTTAWA (Reuters) - The struggling Ottawa Senators, who went to the National Hockey League's Stanley Cup finals last year, fired head coach John Paddock and assistant Ron Low on Wednesday.

General Manager Bryan Murray, who coached the Senators last year in their Stanley Cup run, announced he would return to the head coaching job and stay on in his current position as well.

The Senators started the season strongly under Paddock's leadership but flagged in the second half, slipping to second place in the Eastern Conference and suffering an embarrassing string of defeats.

The last two games they lost 5-0 to arch-rivals Toronto and 4-0 to Boston. They have lost six of their last eight games and 14 of their last 21.

It became clear Paddock's days were numbered on Tuesday, when Murray declined to give him a vote of confidence, saying only that winning makes everything safe -- and implying that losing does not.

Paddock was in his sixth season with the Senators organization and became head coach after last season as Murray moved up to the position of general manager.

Murray has coached 1,300 NHL games, including 665 wins. He holds a regular-season coaching record of 100-46-18 with Ottawa. His first game as head coach this season will be on Thursday, when Ottawa visits the Philadelphia Flyers.

(Reporting by Randall Palmer, editing by Rex Gowar)