Neal Pionk skated into the corner as soon as the chaos was finished and, step by step — glove by glove, stick by stick, helmet by helmet — he cleaned up the mess.



Adam Lowry had just fought Corey Perry after the two exchanged cross-checks. Moments before that, Nikolaj Ehlers had taken a slash from Jamie Benn and slashed him back. Ehlers then pushed Benn into the end boards just like a tackle dummy. Maybe it was the presence of Grey Cup champions Andrew Harris, Nic Demski, and Chris Streveler that compelled the Jets to fisticuffs. Maybe it was just the stick swinging Stars.



Either way, Pionk played Good Samaritan. He cleaned up the clutter and returned all of the equipment to its rightful owners. It was a largely uncelebrated move but a good one — one of so many messes, most of them involving pucks, that Pionk has sorted out this season — and, for this writer, it was terrific reminder.



I need to come clean. I was wrong about Neal Pionk.