NEWARK, N.J. - The New Jersey Devils have been on a slide since going to the Stanley Cup final in 2012, and coach Pete DeBoer paid the price.DeBoer, who took the Devils to the championship round in his first season, was fired Friday, with his aging and short-handed team in danger of missing the playoffs for a third straight season.Lou Lamoriello, the Devils president and general manager, wont say who will be the next coach until he speaks Saturday with the players, who are on a three-day Christmas break. The Devils will have a pregame skate at the Prudential Center on Saturday morning before playing the Rangers in New York that night.There are a number of potential candidates, including Adam Oates, a former Devils assistant; Dallas Eakins, who was fired earlier this month by Edmonton; and former Penguins coach Dan Bylsma.Lamoriello has hired a couple of former Montreal Canadiens coaches to lead New Jersey, and Jacques Martin has been in the press box to watch the Devils in their last three home games. He was an assistant under Bylsma last season and was promoted to senior adviser of hockey operations.New Jersey has been hit with injuries in a 12-17-7 season. It has not won consecutive games since early last month, going 3-8-5 in its last 16. The Devils were missing six regulars to either injury or illness Tuesday night when they lost 2-1 in a shootout to the Carolina Hurricanes, the NHLs second-worst team.I know that no one wants to hear excuses, and I am not going to make any, but I am definitely not going to throw our guys under the bus, DeBoer said Tuesday. Guys are trying.The problem is the guys are not as talented as they used to be, and it shows in the standings. The Devils are 14th in the Eastern Conference, nine points out of a playoff berth and fading.New Jersey has 15 players over the age of 30 on the roster, including 42-year-old Jaromir Jagr, who is tied for the team lead in scoring. Not only are they old, but the Devils have not gotten much help from their minor leagues in recent years. Defenceman Adam Larsson, the fourth pick overall in 2011, has been a disappointment, and Stephane Matteau, the first-round pick the following season, has one goal with the Devils top affiliate this season.DeBoer is the third NHL coach to be fired this season, following Paul MacLean in Ottawa and Eakins.DeBoer was 114-93-41 in his three-plus seasons with the Devils. Before coming to New Jersey, he coached the Florida Panthers for three years, never making the playoffs.The 46-year-old DeBoer was hired in 2011-12 and immediately took the Devils to the Stanley Cup final, where they lost to the Los Angeles Kings.The Devils, however, lost Zach Parise to free agency after the season. They took an unexpected blow after the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season when goal-scorer Ilya Kovalchuk left to play in Russia. Those were the teams two best players, and their losses were keenly felt, especially in shootouts.The Devils were 0-13 in shootouts last season and 2-6 this season, their first since not re-signing goaltender Martin Brodeur, the longtime face of the three-time Stanley Cup champions.DeBoer had provided some stability to the Devils coaching position. Since winning their last Cup in 2003 under Pat Burns, the Devils have changed coaches nine times, with only Brent Sutter lasting two full seasons until DeBoer came along. During that span, Lamoriello has twice filled in on an interim basis and Jacques Lemaire has twice come out of retirement to coach the team. Tim Anderson Jersey . Sterling was banned for life and fined US$2.5 million by the NBA on Tuesday for racist comments the league says he made in a recorded conversation. Nash, who plays for the rival L.A. 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Crompton threw three touchdown passes - two to Duron Carter and one to Brandon London - and Sean Whyte connected on four field goals to power the Alouettes to the win.SAN DIEGO - More than 24 hours later, Antonio Gates still couldnt believe it — or explain it.The Chargers 37-0 loss at Miami on Sunday was their worst defeat in 18 years.Ive never been a part of something of that magnitude at all in my sports life, period, said the star tight end, whos been with the Chargers since 2003.What had Gates shaking his head Monday afternoon was that a Philip Rivers-led team crossed the 50-yard line only once, on the opening drive. That drive ended when rookie Branden Oliver was stuffed on fourth-and-1 from the Miami 22.In this league, you just dont lose like that. Guys are too talented, guys are too good. It just wasnt our day, Gates said.I dont want to blame absolutely no one. I take the blame about what I could have done to prevent that, he added. Thats the message that we as veteran leaders send to the rest of the group: What can you do better to help us win. What can you do better to help us prevent a situation like that. Thats real hard to do. I mean, for a team to beat us like that, it just wasnt the San Diego Chargers that Ive been a part of that, that weve built. It wasnt our best performance by far.The Chargers (5-4) are in a freefall going into their bye, having lost three straight games by increasingly larger margins.After rallying to beat winless Oakland, the Chargers lost at home to Kansas City, 23-20, and then on the road to Denver, 35-21. Theyve gone from being tied for the NFLs best recoord at 5-1 to now needing to rally to get a playoff berth.ddddddddddddSundays debacle was their worst loss since a 45-7 defeat to New England in 1996. It was their first shutout loss since a 34-0 defeat at Kansas City in 1999, when Jim Harbaugh was their quarterback.Rivers was intercepted three times and lost a fumble. It got so bad that Rivers made way for backup Kellen Clemens. The line played so poorly that San Diego had only 50 yards on 19 rushes.Coach Mike McCoy didnt have any answers on Monday.We flat out played poor, obviously. Look at the scoreboard. Its not going to lie, McCoy said.The coach said no one could blame the preparation.We had the right mindset going in, understanding the importance of the next game, playing a good team, on the road, going to Miami, what it means playing a conference opponent and whats at stake there, the importance of those games. We played poor as a team. We did a poor job coaching.When you get beat 37-0 you obviously did something wrong, McCoy said. Its hard for me to think of a game that Ive been involved in thats been like that in a long time. Its part of the game and its a perfect example of, you dont go out and play your best game, youre going to get exposed. 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