The first war of words between coaches of the Stanley Cup playoffs has broken out, and to the surprise of many, Columbus’ John Tortorella wasn’t involved.

Hours before his Vegas Golden Knights took on the San Jose Sharks in Game 7 of a first-round playoff series Tuesday night, Gerard Gallant called Peter DeBoer a clown.

“I really don’t want to talk about that, but I think I’m going to have to a little bit, because for that clown to say that in the paper yesterday, it’s not right,” Gallant said.

DeBoer accused Gallant of chirping Sharks players during Game 6 on Sunday.

“He’s talking to our players constantly during the game, which I haven’t seen before,” DeBoer said. “That’s probably where most of the chatter’s coming from now. The players are playing.”

Gallant said he could think of only two instances that might fit DeBoer’s definition of chatter, and he apologized for neither.

He was upset because he felt San Jose’s Logan Couture embellished a slash to the face he received from Jonathan Marchessault, but said he was complaining to the referee, not the player. He said he also arbitrated a dispute between San Jose’s Evander Kane and Vegas’ Ryan Reaves.

“Evander yells at me. He said, ‘Hey coach, when are you going to send your big guy out on the ice and play him more than 4 minutes?’ I said, ‘He’s played 10 minute every game and he’s going to play a lot more,’” Gallant said.

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