The 2024-25 NHL season has come to a close for the New Jersey Devils, who were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs in five games by the Carolina Hurricanes.
Hurricanes alternate captain Sebastian Aho put the dagger into New Jersey’s season late on Tuesday night, scoring a power-play goal in double overtime to punch Carolina’s ticket to the second round and sending the Devils home for an earlier-than-expected offseason.
While the Hurricanes await the winner of the series between the Washington Capitals and Montreal Canadiens, Devils fans are left once again feeling frustrated over coming up short.
Devils Fans Experience Their Latest Postseason Heartbreak
Following their latest loss in the opening round of the postseason, Devils fans were understandably unhappy.
One fan started things off by saying, “Pathetic showing. Fans deserve better.”
This fan had a stern message for Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald, saying, “Clean house on forward, horrible toughness, this method of building a team does not work.”
Another fan ripped the entire team, saying, “Everyone stopped playing hockey and started playing ping pong. No one was skating with the puck. No legs left.”
Speaking of blasting the whole team, this fan had no problem doing so: “This team battled for 10 minutes and then coasted for the rest of the game. This team sucks and will never win anything until they get some actual players with skill.”
One particularly angry fan wants to see major changes, saying, “Fitz was a mistake from the very beginning. Fire him. Fire Keefe. We need to move on from the entitled ‘it’s our time’ attitude. Winning in hockey means expecting nothing and taking everything.”
However, this fan kept things positive while noting the considerable absence of Jack Hughes, saying, “Honestly Devils game it their all and did better than i expected considering the injuries. No team is overcoming losing their best player and 4 of their top 6 defenseman. If healthy they probably win this series.”
Devils Coach Sheldon Keefe Praises The Fight In His Team
The Devils were extremely shorthanded in their series against the Hurricanes, most notably missing Jack Hughes.
Coach Sheldon Keefe noted that he was proud of the fight his club showed in the face of adversity.
“I loved the fight in our team. We competed hard. We fought back and got the lead back. Then they get a long five-on-three — the first of the series — I liked a lot about our game tonight,” he said.
“Our team fought, man. We came out of Game 1, it didn’t go well. That was our worst game of the series, and we lost Luke and Dilly in Game 1. We knew at that time, they wouldn’t be back. Our guys gave everything they had. We were on fumes in overtime. There was a path there for us to win. Came close to it today.”