The Oilers and Panthers combined for 102 hits, many of them bruising body checks sending opponents into the glass and to the ice.

Former NHL players from Germany couldn't say enough about the Boston Bruins' hiring of fellow countryman Marco Sturm as coach Thursday. The 46-year-old, who played for the Bruins from 2005-10, will be a head coach for the first time in the NHL and replaces Joe Sacco, who was named interim coach after Jim Montgomery was fired Nov. 19.

Marco Sturm was named the head coach of the Boston Bruins on Thursday, adding another chapter to the story of the German and his intriguing relationship with the team. The 46-year-old Sturm is the first coach of the Bruins to be born and bred in Europe.