Pavelski on Facing DeBoer in the Conference Finals: “It’ll be a little different.”

Yesterday, ex-San Jose Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer professed his admiration for his former captain Joe Pavelski.

This morning, Pavelski didn’t quite return the favor, but for a good reason.

“He sent [Vegas assistant coach Steve Spott] and I a text last night, congratulating us,” DeBoer revealed yesterday of a text he received from Pavelski. “In typical Joe fashion, he said we’ll talk to you after the series is over. He’s got his game face on. There’ll be no communication. He’s there for one thing and that’s to win.”

Pavelski carried that “game face” over to this morning’s press conference, on the eve of Game One of the Western Conference Finals, telling San Jose Hockey Now about DeBoer:

“We’ve been through some good battles when we were back in the Bay.

“It’ll be a little different.

“We played them once in the round robin here, that eases it a little bit. But obviously the stakes are a little higher right now. They got a good team.

“But it’s not about any of that right now. The focus goes right back in our locker room and doing what we need to do to put out a good game and try to establish our game earlier in the series.”

There’s no doubt that the ex-San Jose Sharks captain has a ton of respect for his old bench boss — but game on!