Listen, most of the insults I direct towards one Peter DeBoer are made in jest. It's fun to "suck it DeBoer" and blame him for the rapid downfall of a team that made a semi-miraculous run to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2012. The truth is - despite nauseating lineup decisions that could drive any man to drink (booze or bleach depending on the night) and an undying stubbornness with anyone under 23 years of age - coaching was not the biggest factor in the Devils decline. The departure of generational players such as Zach Parise and Ilya Kovalchuk had way more to do with their fall from grace. A poor owner, a overly loyal General Manager, and and inability to realize that they needed to start from stratch ultimately cost Peter DeBoer his job. That being said, Devils fans needed last night and they needed it badly. They needed to watch another team suffer. They needed to see San Jose dominate in time of possession. They needed to see that possession result in next to nothing. They needed to watch a Sharks team outplay their own team and still lose in less than dramatic fashion as a result. Forget the jerseys that each team was wearing last night, Devils fans have watched the exact same game that was played last night well over 100 times. The only difference was that they were finally the beneficiary of it. An unexpected goal here? A bad bounce there? Welcome to our world Sharks fans. Your players might be better than ours were, but apparently the outcome has remained eerily consistent. So yes, suck it DeBoer. Not because you did a bad job coaching the Devils, but because you made a bad situation worse by over-coaching the Devils. As much as I will look fondly back on that unlikely cup run, I will always associate your face with two of the most depressing, hopeless seasons in Devils history, even they weren't entirely your fault. I want to say I wish you the best, but that would mean I wouldn't get to see this face nearly as much, and I am a selfish, selfish man... As for the product on the ice? The best thing to come out of last night was a renewed sense of confidence for Keith Kinkaid. If we are being honest, I don't know why it was shattered in the first place. While the game against the Penguins was one of the first of the season I didn't watch live, the highlights certainly seemed to show that the entire team made Ferris Bueller look like he was 'present'. Could Kinkaid have played a couple of the goals better? Absolutely. If he had would the Devils have had a chance of winning? FUCK NO. Kinkaid's performance was only disappointing in the sense that Devils fans are used to watching Cory Schneider pull rabbits out of his asshole on a bi-period basis. So I am glad that Keith Kinkaid proved to himself - and the fans - that he is very good in filling a very important role on this team, but let's not act like his failures cost the Devils against Pittsburgh when Jon Merrill looked like he forgot to take his skate guards off.
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