WINNIPEG -- Neal Pionk's education in the Stanley Cup Playoffs is in its early stages but the defenseman is learning his lessons quickly as the Winnipeg Jets head to the second round.
Pionk has played eight playoff games in the NHL, including all four when the Jets swept the Edmonton Oilers in the best-of-seven Stanley Cup First Round. Winnipeg closed out the series with a 4-3 win in triple overtime Monday; each of the final three games was decided in overtime.
"It only goes uphill from here," Pionk said. "I think one of the guys said earlier this week that [Edmonton] series, the margin was razor thin. It was a 4-0 sweep, but it certainly didn't feel like that with three overtime games. And even the first game was 2-1 win with two empty nets. So, it was it was a tough series and we expect it to get harder."
The Jets will play the winner of the first-round series between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens. Toronto leads 3-2 with Game 6 in Montreal on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS).
When the Stanley Cup Second Round starts, the Jets will require more of the same from Pionk, who has been a key figure in the reconstruction of their defense since arriving in a trade from the New York Rangers on June 17, 2019. He and a first-round pick in the 2019 NHL Draft (defenseman Ville Heinola) were acquired in exchange for defenseman Jacob Trouba.
The 25-year-old has grown steadily in the past two seasons and scored 32 points (three goals, 29 assists) in 52 games this season. He played an average of 21:58 per game, second to defenseman Josh Morrissey (23:33) on the Jets.
In the playoffs, he is averaging 27:21 per game, second behind Morrissey (29:57) and 10th in the NHL.
"[The trust I have] is solely based on his consistency, right from the time he showed up here," Jets coach Paul Maurice said. "He's been just an incredibly impactful defenseman in a bunch of different areas. His taking on that role with Derek Forbort this year playing against the other team's best a lot of nights. But he's just played an incredibly intense, consistent game.
"That hallmark of consistency for defensemen is so hard to achieve. But he's done it, in a short period of time as a young player. He's been fantastic for us."
He excelled in a difficult matchup in the first round, playing regularly against Edmonton's top line, which featured Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, who have each won an Art Ross Trophy as the leading scorer in the NHL the past two seasons. McDavid scored a League-best 103 points in 56 games during the 2021-22 regular season.
Draisaitl finished with two goals in the series and McDavid scored one, but it was a play by Pionk against that pair that set up the series-winning goal by Jets forward Kyle Connor at 6:52 of the third overtime in Game 4.
As McDavid skated down the left wing and crossed the attacking blue line, the right-shooting Pionk laid his stick low on the left side of his body, preventing a quick pass to Draisaitl. When McDavid decided to try to chip the puck along the boards, Pionk switched his stick position, knocking the puck out of the air and smacked it quickly up ice, where Connor retrieved it with the Oilers caught out of position.
A small but game-changing play.
Pionk made them all over the ice, creating turnovers, shutting down opponents and contributing offensively with three assists in the four games.
"Yeah, I think it's one of those things that gets overlooked with his game is the physicality," Winnipeg forward Adam Lowry said. "He battles so hard, he's not the biggest guy, but he competes, he's hard on pucks, and he's willing to stand up and use his body at our blue line. Chances are he's not tip-toeing into battles, he's going in there full bore."
Lowry led the Jets in hits during the regular season with 161. Pionk, who's 6-foot, 186 pounds, was second with 137.
"If you ask any coach I've ever had, it's probably one of the first things that they'll say, competitive," Pionk said. "In my younger days, some coaches would probably say I was over-competitive, maybe took a penalty or two too much. I remember actually sitting down with my junior coach (Jay Varady), he pulled me into his office one day, he said, 'If you take another minor penalty, you're getting a healthy scratch.' That put an end to that pretty quick."
Varady, now an assistant with the Arizona Coyotes, remembers the meeting vividly. It was during the 2013-14 season, when he coached Pionk in Sioux City of the United States Hockey League.
"In junior hockey, he was the guy who had the heart of a lion," Varaday said. "We just had to try to keep it within the boundaries of the game. He was so important to our team, we needed him on the ice more than in the penalty box or suspended or whatever he was getting his nose into.
"Competitive is the word I would use."
Pionk said he and his four brothers, Corbin, 31, Nate, 24, Joe, 21 and Aaron, 17, each share responsibility for the competitive streak.
"When you have a household of five boys, you're competing for literally every inch of the house," he said. "Food, or whatever game you're playing, it doesn't matter, it's like a constant competition. At least it seemed that way when we were growing up. I'll never forget those games of hockey or football in the backyard with them."
Varady said that kind of competitive intensity, so essential in the playoffs, was always present when he coached Pionk. It was shocking to Varady that Pionk was not selected in the 2013 NHL Draft nor the 2014 NHL Draft.
He was signed as a free agent by the Rangers in 2017 after two seasons at the University of Minnesota Duluth.
"To every scout that came by, I said, 'Your last pick of the draft, jump up and down on the table because this guy's got the heart of a lion and there's a chance he might be able to play,'" Varady said. "I said, 'I know he's small. I know there are some skating issues that aren't pretty but don't worry about all that. The worst thing that will happen is that he'll be the captain of your American Hockey League team and be part of your organization for many years and help a lot of your players be better.' That was my sales pitch but nobody took me up on it.
"Did I know he was going to be an NHL player? I didn't but I knew he was going to work and do everything in his power to give himself a chance to play."
And that's exactly the same approach he brings to the Jets as they get ready for the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
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