Peter DeBoer jumped to the top of the ranks of the funny men among NHL coaches on Friday.

The New Jersey Devils head coach injected some life in a drowsy press conference after his team’s practice when he turned a routine question into some self-deprecating humour. DeBoer used it to bring up his accidental encounter with a woman seated behind the Devils bench for Game 4 of the Stanley Cup final in Los Angeles.

DeBoer was caught by the television cameras doing a classic double-take when the woman pressed her ample bosom against the glass next to him.

When someone asked DeBoer about his team’s focus in trying to stay alive against the Los Angeles Kings, the coach grabbed the straight line like a seasoned Borscht Belt comic.

“Focus?” DeBoer said, deadpan. “I thought that question was going to be about the lady behind our bench the last game. You saw my 100-per-cent focus on the game. That’s discipline, I’ll tell ya.”

As always these days, the young woman received her 15 minutes of fame thanks to her appearance behind the bench at the Staples Centre. Her presence was a mere coincidence, I’m sure, but she turned out to be an “adult” model and actress named Taylor Stevens. We cannot guarantee that is her birth name.

Stevens also landed an interview on Toronto sports radio station TSN 1050. Not only that, it turns out she’s from Toronto and is a big Maple Leafs fan. Leafs coach Randy Carlyle and his players are hereby advised to keep an eye peeled next fall.