The Golden Knights and Sharks are heading to a decisive Game 7, and one of the most interesting matchups might end up being on the bench.
Sharks coach Pete DeBoer and Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant have traded verbal barbs ahead of Tuesday's night game. Throughout the series DeBoer has taken issue with Gallant's in-game coaching style. As a response to DeBoer latest complaints about him, Gallant called the Sharks' coach "a clown."
After the Sharks' Game 6 win, DeBoer said that Gallant was chirping at his players, specifically Logan Couture.
"... I mean, there's still chatter," DeBoer said, per the Chicago Tribune. "[Gallant] is chattering. He's probably doing the most chattering. He's talking to our players constantly during the game, which I haven't seen before. That's probably where most of the chatter's coming from now. The players are playing."
On Tuesday, Gallant caught wind of what DeBoer said about him, and he wasn't happy.
"For that clown to say that in the paper yesterday, it's not right," Gallant said, per the San Jose Mercury News.
Gallant added that people "respect me as a coach" and that DeBoer's comments are "a little unclassy."
The alleged chirp came when Jonathan Marchessault was called for a penalty after hitting Couture in the face. Gallant inferred after the game that Couture was embellishing, saying "I didn't think there was much there, for that reaction."
He clarified that comment on Tuesday, after calling DeBoer a clown.
"Logan Couture, I thought it was an embellishment, so I'm yelling at the referee, not at Logan Couture," Gallant said.
Evander Kane is the other Sharks player Gallant has said he's had words with.
"The other one, Game 2, Evander Kane is yelling at Ryan Reaves between the benches. Evander yells at me and says, 'Hey, Coach, when are you going to send your big guy on the ice and play him more than four minutes?' And I said, 'He's played 10 minutes every game, and he's going to play a lot more.'"
One of the two teams' seasons will be over come Wednesday, so expect a chippy game.
