Career
He is the younger brother of Buffalo Sabres player Brian Gionta, who played for the Devils from 2001 to 2009. He was not drafted by any team, but after graduating from Boston College he signed an amateur tryout agreement with the Albany River Rats, the AHL affiliate of his older brother"s team at the time, the New Jersey Devils. Stephen made his professional debut at the end of the 2005-2006 AHL season with the River Rats.
Gionta"s first ever AHL game was on April 13, 2006 against the Springfield Falcons.
Stephen led his team to a 5–3 victory by scoring 3 goals and adding 1 assistant He was named the first star of the game.
Foreign the 2006-2007 season, Stephen played for the Devils AHL affiliate, the Lowell Devils. He was on the team with Mike Pandolfo and Jordan Parise, who also have brothers (Jay and Zach, respectively) playing for the Devils, marking arguably the first time that three sets of brothers were playing for the same system simultaneously.
This lasted until Brian signed with Montreal in 2009.
Stephen was called up by the New Jersey Devils on November 4, 2010. He made his National Hockey League debut the following day playing in a home game 3–0 shutout loss to the New York Rangers. Stephen scored his first National Hockey League goal in the New Jersey Devils season finale on April 7, 2012 against Craig Anderson the Ottawa Senators.
His goal was the game-winning goal, and he received first star honors of the game.
In his first ever home playoff game on Tuesday April 17, 2012, Stephen scored the second goal of the game for the New Jersey Devils in a 4–3 loss to the Florida Panthers. On May 23, 2012, he scored his fourth National Hockey League goal, and third playoff goal, against the New York Rangers in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
As he also had an assist, it was his first multi-point playoff game. On June 29, 2012, Gionta re-signed with the New Jersey Devils on a two-year contract.
On July 1, 2014, Gionta re-signed for another two years.