Nashville Predators hire new coach Peter Laviolette

NHL • The Nashville Predators wanted experience and a proven winner as their new head coach, and general manager David Poile believes that's what they got in hiring Peter Laviolette — just the second coach in the franchise's history.

Laviolette has won nine of the 14 postseason series he's coached with the Islanders, Hurricanes and Flyers. He also won the Stanley Cup in 2006 with Carolina and coached the Flyers to the Stanley Cup finals in 2010. The Predators said Tuesday they signed him to a multi-year contract.

The Predators reached the Western Conference semifinals in 2011 and 2012 but missed the playoffs the past two seasons.

Laviolette will take over once he finishes coaching the United States at the 2014 World Championship.

Thiem knocks champ from Madrid

Tennis • Austrian qualifier Dominic Thiem scored the biggest victory of his young career on Tuesday when he rallied for a 1-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory over third-ranked Stanislas Wawrinka at the Madrid Open.

The 20-year-old Thiem showed composure beyond his years in knocking the Australian Open champion out of the clay court event to reach the third round.

Thiem called on a thunderous array of baseline strokes and soft net touches to oust the third-seeded Wawrinka, who reached the final at Madrid's Magic Box tennis center last year.

Filly might run vs. males in Preakness

Horse racing • Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Ria Antonia is a possibility to run against male horses in the Preakness Stakes.

If she is sent to Pimlico to run in the middle leg of the Triple Crown on May 17, Ria Antonia will be saddled by a new trainer. The filly's owners transferred her after she finished sixth in the Kentucky Oaks last week at Churchill Downs.

If Ria Antonia takes on the boys, including Kentucky Derby winner California Chrome, she would try to become the sixth filly to win the Preakness.

From wire reports