BOSTON -- Boston general manager Mike O'Connell took the first step to make the Bruins more accountable.

McConnell fired head coach Robbie Ftorek on Wednesday and became the interim head coach as the Bruins prepared for a late-season playoff push over the final nine games of the regular season.

"I've taken a step here personally. No one can blame anyone but me right now," O'Connell said. "I've made myself very accountable, and expect the players to do the same."

Ftorek, in his second season, was the Bruins' 10th coach in 18 years. The team also fired assistant coach Jim Hughes, but kept assistant Wayne Cashman. Mike Sullivan, head coach of the Bruins' AHL affiliate in Providence, R.I., was promoted to assistant in Boston, and Scott Gordon was named Providence coach.

The Bruins had the NHL's best record at 19-4-3-1 on Dec. 8, but slipped to 33-28-8-4 and into seventh place in the Eastern Conference.

The 46-year-old O'Connell spent six seasons as Boston's assistant GM after a 15-year playing career with Chicago, Boston and Detroit. He coached Providence from 1992-94 and went 74-71-15.

O'Connell intends to simplify the team's game plan, stressing fundamentals, checking and consistency.

O'Connell said he "absolutely" had discussed with Ftorek his desire to see more consistent play, and believed the Bruins had made strides in that area. Earlier this month, he said Ftorek had "weathered the storm" and would finish out the season.

That was before the Bruins' 2-1 loss to Phoenix on Tuesday night.

"It started with the way we came out last night and played in a game I thought was critical, and for the life of me I couldn't understand why that is," O'Connell said. "I've seen it too many times, and regardless of what players we have in the lineup, I have to get this team back to working hard on a consistent basis.

"I've seen too many times where we have one good period, we're bad the second and desperate the third," he said. "If we get in the playoffs we're not going to go anywhere with that kind of play."

Ftorek was not immediately available for comment.

Ftorek became coach in May 2001 after a season in which Pat Burns was fired eight games into his fourth year. His replacement, Mike Keenan, coached the Bruins to their second straight non-playoff season.

A Needham native and one of the best high school hockey players in Massachusetts history, Ftorek led the Bruins to first place in the Eastern Conference last season with a 43-24-6-9 record. But they were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by Montreal.

The Bruins got off to a strong start this season despite the loss of three key players and before weaknesses in the defense and goaltending surfaced.

Bill Guerin, who scored 41 goals last season, signed as a free agent with Dallas, and defenseman Kyle McLaren held out rather than stay with the Bruins. They also chose not to re-sign goalie Byron Dafoe, who eventually joined Atlanta.

The team has also played most of the season without injured forward Sergei Samsonov. Samsonov, coming off consecutive 70-point seasons, had surgery in December on an injured right wrist.

The loss of Dafoe may have been the most damaging as Boston began the season with goalies Steve Shields and John Grahame, neither a regular starter in the NHL. They shared the job until Grahame was traded to Tampa Bay and McLaren was traded in a deal that brought Jeff Hackett to Boston from Montreal.

Ftorek did have plenty of offense with Joe Thornton, Glen Murray and Brian Rolston. And the defense was more aggressive than it was last season, leading to scoring opportunities.

But after their outstanding start, the Bruins had trouble stopping opponents. Without McLaren, the team lacked a dominant defense-minded defenseman.

The team tried to strengthen its defense by obtaining Dan McGillis from San Jose and Ian Moran from Pittsburgh for draft picks at last week's trade deadline, but that wasn't enough to save Ftorek's job.

Ftorek's first NHL head coaching job was with the Los Angeles Kings for the last 52 games in 1987-88 and the entire 1988-89 season.

He then spent five seasons coaching in the AHL and was an assistant with New Jersey for two seasons before taking over as coach of the Devils in 1998-99. He lasted two seasons there before he was fired with eight games to go in the '99-'00 season. New Jersey went on to win the Stanley Cup under Larry Robinson.

As a player, Ftorek spent five seasons in the WHA, where he was MVP in 1977 before joining Quebec of the NHL as a free agent in 1979. He also played for the New York Rangers during a six-year NHL career. He finished with 77 goals and 150 assists in the NHL and 216 goals and 307 assists in the WHA.