Canadiens fire head coach Claude Julien amid three-game losing streak

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

Assistant Dominique Ducharme will take over as head coach on an interim basis. The team has also added Alex Burrows to the coaching staff. 

Julien joined the Canadiens for the 2016-17 season after being fired by the Boston Bruins, where he coached for 10 years. The 60-year-old coached the Canadiens for a total of eight seasons, first from 2002-06 and then from 2016-21. 

In his second stint with the team, Julien went 129-113-35. His firing comes after a three-game losing streak. Montreal has lost six of its last eight games and is 9-5-4. 

Julien is one of the more successful coaches in the NHL. He led the Boston Bruins to a Stanley Cup in 2011 and an Eastern Conference title in 2013. However, he never found that much success with the Canadiens, who have made the playoffs twice in the last four seasons.