The 29-year-old Viel, along with unsung linemates Tim Washe and Ian Moore, are major factors in the Ducks holding McDavid to just one goal and three assists in this series, after the superstar had a gargantuan 48-90=138 points during the regular season.
That defensive prowess is critical to a team’s success in the postseason, but it doesn’t get you on the highlight reels. What does are the timely goals Viel is also providing, including the tying tally in Anaheim’s dramatic overtime victory in Game 4. That game was ultimately won by Poehling early in OT with a sharp angle goal that snuck over the stripe by a matter of millimeters, but Viel’s goal with 6 1/2 minutes left in the third is the reason Anaheim got there.
“I’m getting a lot of texts,” Viel said after he had big goals in both games at Honda Center. “It’s been great. It’s an awesome experience, obviously. Living in the moment and focusing on the task at hand.”
The undrafted Viel was a late bloomer, having played 349 games in the AHL with the likes of the San Jose Barracuda, Manitoba Moose and Providence Bruins before becoming a full-time NHLer this season. He has just six goals in 99 NHL regular season contests, but two in four playoff games. He says he never got discouraged after all that time in the minors that his NHL dreams would come to life.
“I was hoping, obviously that was always the goal,” says the native of Rimouski, Quebec (and you can hear a hint of that French-Canadian accent when he speaks). “I think it’s just the way I am, I guess. I’ve always had to fight for what I had and what I gained. And I think it’s just the way I grew up with my parents and everything, the way they teach me is just to never give up and to always keep moving forward.”
Viel was a goal-scorer in juniors, having potted 33, 35 and 39 in consecutive seasons with Acadie-Bathurst of the QMJHL, leading them to a Memorial Cup in 2018. But at the NHL level, he’s had to focus on his checking to earn ice time.
“Obviously there’s different levels and for me, it was just about focusing on how to make it to that level and finding a role,” Viel said. “I think that’s important for any hockey players to find a role on a team and maybe something that the team lacks and find a way to get in the lineup. And I think that was my way of working for that goal.”
You could see the roots as a scorer in Viel’s two vital goals in this series. In Game 4 he tied the game by punching in a rebound from the bottom of the left wing circle while tumbling to the ice. Despite not scoring a ton in his NHL tenure, he said with a chuckle, “That’s a Jeffrey Viel goal.”