Old-time hockey hits Pionk’s wallet

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This article was published 20/11/2024 (322 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Jets thought it was a good old-fashioned hip check, the kind you rarely see anymore. The NHL clearly disagreed, slapping defenceman Neal Pionk with a $5,000 fine for clipping, which is the maximum financial sanction allowed.

“It’s over, it’s done with. Moving on,” Pionk said Wednesday when asked about the incident for the first time.

The veteran defenceman wasn’t penalized on the play, which happened in the third period of Saturday’s 5-0 loss in Florida and sent Panthers forward Jesper Boqvist flying.

“I just tried to throw a check, that’s all,” said Pionk, who clearly had been coached not to add any further fuel to the fire. “I’d try to do it again. You’ve got to be smart about it. I can’t take a penalty. Don’t want to take a penalty to put the team shorthanded.”

Jets coach Scott Arniel made it clear where he stands on the issue.

“I’m from the 80s,” he said. “I remember coming to training camp and cutting across the middle and some of our veteran players saying you cannot do that because you’re going to get knocked into left field. That happened all the time, but it’s different now.”

Arniel said he was happy Boqvist wasn’t injured on the play.

“It’s real close to being a real clean hit for me,” he said.

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Morgan Barron was growing impatient.

“More than I probably cared to admit,” he confessed.

So you can file his two empty-net goals on Tuesday night against Florida under the “beggars can’t be choosers” category as the 25-year-old finally broke the goose-egg that had been staring him in the face for the first 18 games of the year.

While the other 11 forwards in the lineup had all lit the lamp at least twice already, Barron’s big fat zero was now in his head — and his hands.

“You try to just stick to your process and not focus on the results, but at the end of the day, you want to be able to contribute and eventually score a few,” said Barron, who had a career-high 11 tallies in 80 games last year.

“I was probably gripping the stick a little bit tighter than I wanted to, but it lets things relax a little bit.”

It’s not easy being Dylan Coghlan and David Gustafsson these days. The two Jets skaters find themselves on the outside looking in, unable to crack a lineup that is healthy and successful.

So the scratches keep adding up, now at 19 consecutive games for Coghlan and 18 of the past 19 for Gustafsson.

Arniel said he is having regular talks with the duo just to make sure they stay sharp.

“You have to. You have to make sure everybody’s a part of it. As much as I say, ‘I need to get them in the lineup,’ sometimes it’s… whatever, we’re just kind of looking at things, we’re doing a lot of good things right now,” he said.

“I certainly don’t want this to continue, but I do have to continue having conversations with those guys. And I do. They know where they stand and how we go about things. I love the fact that they’re both upbeat guys. They practice hard. They do the extra work that they have to do.”

Forward Mark Scheifele and defenceman Dylan DeMelo missed Wednesday’s practice for maintenance but will be ready to go when the Jets start a six-game road trip on Friday in Pittsburgh.

The NHL coaching fraternity is a tight-knit one, with bench bosses regularly reaching out to each other via phone calls and texts to talk shop. Safe to say the firing of Jim Montgomery by the Boston Bruins on Tuesday led to a flurry of chatter.

“Like, why am I in this business?” Arniel joked.

“There’s certainly lots of stuff going back and forth when you’re having success, or when you’re having a tough go. Because we see each other at the draft, there’s lots of guys that have worked with each other over the years. There’s a real good camaraderie and you know when the games start, we don’t like each other. But at the end of the day, guys work together well.”

Montgomery led the Bruins to the best regular season in NHL history two years ago and had an overall record of 120-41-23 in his time with the Bruins. But a 8-9-1 start this year led to the stunning move.

Arniel, who coached Montgomery for one season with the Manitoba Moose in 1999-2000, was quick to reach out.

“He’s got a .714 winning percentage — he’s a great coach, he’s going to be back in the game,” said Arniel.

“Every team, every circumstance, is different. I talked to Monty. He’ll be up and running here I think fairly soon. At the end of the day, it just comes with the territory. This is the job you take on. You hate to see it, but it is part of it.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @mikemcintyrewpg