TWO CAN PLAY AT THAT GAME
There was no way to completely shed the nerves that came with Friday night, but John Gilmour and Neal Pionk found some comfort in being able to look across the room before the game and find a familiar face.
The blueliners made their NHL debuts in the Rangers’ 4-3 win over the Flames at the Garden, even playing together on the same defensive unit on a night to remember for both.
“It was really special that Neal and I got to share the first game and we were actually paired together,” Gilmour said. “It’s kind of made everything easier. We’ve talked to each other in the room and everything, so it kind of felt comfortable. It definitely helped.”
“We played together a little bit in [AHL] Hartford,” Pionk said. “To be on that stage, doing it together, was awesome.”
Coach Alain Vigneault threw them both into the fire right away. Gilmour (two shots, two hits) saw time on both the power-play and the penalty-kill units, while Pionk (four hits, three blocked shots) joined him shorthanded. Both finished with plus-1 ratings.
“You could tell before the game that they were energized, obviously playing their first game,” Vigneault said. “Everybody remembers their first game in the NHL, even me, going way, way back in my old days. Those two guys came in yesterday and gave us a good game.
“Now the challenge for them is to follow it up.”
The 22-year-old Pionk got the call from Hartford first, on Thursday, to take the roster spot of Brendan Smith, who subsequently cleared waivers and was sent to the AHL club.
Pionk got the benefit of practicing with the Rangers that day, but Gilmour came up on even shorter notice Friday as captain Ryan McDonagh dealt with a lingering upper-body injury. Still, without Marc Staal (cervical strain), who was placed on injured reserve Friday, the Rangers turned to the 24-yearold Gilmour to play some big minutes alongside Pionk.
“[Friday] night was incredible,” said Gilmour, who won a national championship as a junior with Providence in 2015. “It’s something I’ve been waiting for for a long time. It didn’t really feel real in the moment, but it happened. It definitely feels good.”
Both Gilmour and Pionk stand at 6-feet tall, but they have found ways to make an impact without being the most physically imposing defensemen. Both skate well — Gilmour even won the AHL’s Fastest Skater competition last month with the fourth-fastest time in the event’s history.
“I thought they made so many good plays,” winger J.T. Miller said after the game. “They’re both really good skaters, strong on their skates down low. They’re not the biggest D-men by any means, but they play really big and I was impressed.”
After getting their debuts out of the way, more firsts awaited the blue-line duo. Following Saturday’s practice, they departed for their first NHL road trip, enjoying the confines of a private plane instead of the bus they’d been riding for months in the AHL.
For Pionk, the trip will be even more special. It includes a stop in his home state of Minnesota, where the Rangers will spend the day Monday before meeting the Wild on Tuesday.
“When I looked ahead at the schedule, I was just hoping I’d be up for that trip,” the Duluth native said. “It’s going to be awesome.”