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DeBoer doesn’t back down from Tortorella critique; Brodeur loves it

deboergetty

James

New Jersey Devils head coach Peter DeBoer seems like he wants to move on from the entertaining fall-out from the riotous set of fights that began last night’s game against the New York Rangers.

That doesn’t mean he’s just going to bow down to John Tortorella’s pressure, though, as he certainly didn’t do that when asked follow-up questions by Rich Chere.

“We’ve moved on. I said what I had to say last night and I didn’t need a night to sleep on it to tell you my thoughts,” DeBoer said. “I stand by what I said and we’re moving on to play Ottawa.”

Want a little more, though? Apparently his team loves the fact that the first-year coach is embracing the bitter local rivalry, particularly Martin Brodeur, a veteran of that feud.

“I like that part of it because I think that’s what rivalries are all about,” Brodeur said. “For Pete to stand up for what he did or what Tortorella did I think is a good sign because it means you care about the opponent you play against. You get to hate them and, as a player you want everybody to be on board.

“For me being here so long you get to dislike teams and you want everybody on board. Pete is new to this. He’s new to the rivalry. We’ve had our share of success against those guys this year, there’s no doubt about that. We finished .500 in the six-game series against the top team in our conference. You’ve got to be happy about that. It’s pretty good.”

Say what you will about those “staged” fights, but the reactions to that scenario have been as enthralling as any round of fisticuffs. One could call it a lively round of verbal sparring, if you really want to be cute about it.

It’s not impossible for a Rangers-Devils series - particularly if both teams win first round series in their current situations - so we could all potentially delight in replaying these comments in the future.

Really, it would be a waste if the two teams don’t get to see each other again before next season, wouldn’t it?