PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Penguins hired Ray Shero as general manager eight years ago with the mandate to build a roster around two of the games brightest stars and turn ticker-tape parades through downtown into an annual rite of spring. Nearly a decade -- but just one Stanley Cup later -- Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin find themselves on a perennially underachieving team. And Shero finds himself out of a job. The Penguins fired Shero on Friday, three days after another early playoff exit, this one a seven-game loss to the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Coach Dan Bylsma remains in charge until Sheros replacement gets a chance to evaluate the entire organization top to bottom. "We share the disappointment of our fans that we have not had success in the playoffs over the past five seasons," co-owners Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle said in a joint statement. "We believe that new leadership in the general managers office will bring a new approach and new energy, and help us return to championship form." Assistant general manager Jason Botterill will serve as general manager on an interim basis. Penguins President and CEO David Morehouse called Botterill a candidate to take over and believes whomever the team brings in wont need to make major changes on a club that won 51 games in 2013-14. "Its not a complete rebuild," Morehouse said. "This is a team that has had a level of success. What were trying to do now is get from good to great." Its a destination the Penguins reached only briefly during Sheros tenure, spending most of the time in a murky middle ground that made them one of the leagues model franchises during the regular season but a symbol of disappointment once the calendar crept into May and beyond. Pittsburgh won the franchises third Cup in 2009 but has failed to produce a bookend. Pittsburgh is just 4-5 in playoff series over the last five years after blowing a 3-1 series lead against New York. Morehouse didnt blame the 51-year-old Sheros ouster on one specific misstep. "This is a decision thats been in the works for a long time since weve won the Cup," Morehouse said. "We wanted to get back to the Stanley Cup finals and we havent and were going to make some changes." The Penguins brought Shero in before the 2006-07 season and tasked him with finding the right kind of players to complement Crosby and Malkins otherworldly offensive talent. It culminated on a giddy night in Detroit in 2009, when the Penguins edged the Red Wings 2-1 in Game 7 to earn the franchises third Cup, a run that included the crucial trade deadline acquisitions of forwards Chris Kunitz and Bill Guerin. It was supposed to mark the beginning of a dynasty. Yet five seasons have come and gone with the Penguins in a familiar position: watching the final stages of the playoffs go on without them. It hasnt been for lack of trying. Shero remained aggressive in investing in a "win now" mode as the ensuing disappointments piled up. He enthusiastically said the Penguins were "all in" last year after trading for Jarome Iginla, Jussi Jokinen, Brenden Morrow and Douglas Murray. The moves often created headlines but little else, and boatloads of regular-season victories and a sellout streak seven years and counting proved no longer good enough. Whether Bylsma will be along for the ride remains unclear. The affable, open-minded Michigan native was a revelation when the Penguins promoted him from their American Hockey League affiliate in the spring of 2009, hoping his optimism would help a loaded team break out of a midseason funk. It worked brilliantly. Four months after taking the job, the former NHL nomad who spent nine seasons as a gritty fourth-line forward was raising the Cup in ecstasy. Considering Crosby and Malkin were both in their early 20s at the time, champagne toasts were expected. A half-decade later, Bylsma is the winningest coach in franchise history with 252 wins but the wait for another Cup run continues. While Pittsburgh enjoyed nearly unparalleled success from October to April -- including easily capturing the Metropolitan Division this year despite losing more than 500-man games to injury -- the Penguins again struggled to adapt in the post-season. Morehouse said the new general manager will determine whether Bylsma and the rest of the staff gets another shot. The 43-year-old Bylsma has two years remaining on his contract, the product of an extension he received last June as a vote of confidence from Shero following a four-game sweep at the hands of Boston in the Eastern Conference finals. The deal came with a promise to adopt a more defensive-minded approach. The Penguins even brought in longtime NHL coach Jacques Martin as an assistant, an old-school yin to Bylsmas new-school yang. Crosby took the blame for the teams underperformance as the Penguins cleared out their locker on Thursday. A day later the general manager ordered to put the leagues leading scorer in a position to keep Pittsburgh at the top was cleaning out his office. Whoever ends up redecorating will have his tough choices to make. At the same time, he gets to start with Crosby and Malkin firmly entrenched. Both players are signed through the rest of the decade. There are worse places to start. "A lot of teams would like to be where we are," Morehouse said. "However we do have high expectations and we do want to get to them." NBA Jerseys Store . Third-place Madrid fell behind and settled for a 2-2 draw earlier at Osasuna in a match both sides finished with 10 men, and Barcelona didnt let the chance escape. 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NBA Jerseys Outlet . -- All-Pro tight end Jimmy Graham and the New Orleans Saints met Tuesday for arbitration on his contract.(SportsNetwork.com) - The Boston Red Sox eye back-to-back wins and a series victory on Wednesday when they close out a three-game set with the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards. You can watch the game live on TSN2 and TSN GO at 7pm et/4pm pt. Boston has struggled on its nine-game road trip, but can close the trek with wins in three of its last four games after a brilliant effort from Brandon Workman in the Red Sox 1-0 win on Tuesday. Workman (1-0) had allowed only a walk to Nelson Cruz before Ryan Flaherty laced a clean single with two out in the bottom of the sixth. It was one of only two hits by Baltimore on the night, with Andrew Miller, Junichi Tazawa and Koji Uehara finishing off the shutout after Workman stymied the Orioles through 6 2/3 innings. "He was outstanding, especially in light of the two different rain delays," Boston manager John Farrell said of Workman. Bostons pitchers made Mike Napolis third-inning RBI single hold up to give the Red Sox just their second victory in eight games. Chris Tillman (5-3) was saddled with the hard-luck loss after permitting the lone run in six innings of work. "I was really pleased with Chris," Os manager Buck Showalter said.dddddddddddd "Unfortunately they just pitched a little better than we did." Orioles third baseman Manny Machado, suspended five games pending an appeal earlier in the day for throwing his bat onto the field Sunday against Oakland, was in the lineup and went 0-for-4. Heading to the hill for Boston on Wednesday will be righty Rubby De La Rosa, who is 1-1 with a 2.84 ERA. De La Rosa absorbed the loss on Friday in Detroit, as he surrendered four runs in 5 2/3 innings. He had tossed seven scoreless innings in his season debut a week earlier. "I feel almost 100 percent like last time," De La Rosa said. "I just missed more pitches." Baltimore, meanwhile, will turn to lefty Wei-Yin Chen, who is 6-2 with a 4.13 ERA. Chen did not factor in the decision of his teams 4-3 loss on Friday to Oakland, as he allowed two runs and five hits in 6 1/3 frames. Chen beat Boston earlier in the year and is 3-3 lifetime against them with a 5.26 ERA in nine starts. Boston has won five of its nine meetings with the Orioles this season. ' ' '