Vilardi, Ehlers net four points each in Jets 5-2 win over Kings

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/12/2023 (663 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

LOS ANGELES — Revenge is a dish best served cold. And an emotional Gabe Vilardi and his Winnipeg Jets teammates served up a heaping helping of it here in Hollywood on Wednesday night, rallying to beat the mighty Los Angeles Kings 5-2 in a game just overflowing with juicy storylines.

They mainly surround Vilardi, who played in the Kings home building for the first time ever as a visitor — and picked a fine time to put up a career-high four points (one goal, three assists) against the team that shipped him to Winnipeg last summer as part of the Pierre-Luc Dubois blockbuster.

“Obviously you saw it out there. I was here and now I’m gone,” Vilardi said, the snarl in his voice clear as day. “I was drafted here, my time here playing here was amazing but at the end of the day, they didn’t want me. So, it doesn’t end anything.”

Does anyone else feel a chill? In other words, there may be another meal or two on the way down the road.

Vilardi clearly had some extra jump, not only because this was his first trip back to Los Angeles, but also because of how things ended the last time he faced the Kings on Oct. 24 in Winnipeg. The 24-year-old power forward suffered a sprained MCL and would miss 18 games after ex-teammate Blake Lizotte took him out with what he felt was a “stupid” play.

“I said what I felt. Everyone’s entitled to their opinion. I said my opinion I thought it was a dumb play by him and I was out almost two months because of it,” Vilardi re-iterated Wednesday night. “It’s my opinion on it and not everyone has to agree with that. I have the right to my opinion as well.”

There was some thought perhaps he, or another member of the Jets, might go after Lizotte. Instead, they let their play do the talking, rallying from an early 2-0 deficit to seize control and skate away with another statement win.

Winnipeg improves to 17-9-2 and jump into second place in the Central Division, two points back of the Colorado Avalanche with a game in hand. That includes going 3-1-0 on this four-game western road trip that began with a huge victory in Denver, continued with a comeback victory in Anaheim followed by a hard-luck late 2-1 loss in San Jose.

Los Angeles, one of the true NHL heavyweights so far this season, fall to 16-6-4.

Let’s dig in to the other meaty morsels to emerge:

1) WIN IT FOR GABE: There’s no question the Jets weren’t treating this game as a typical “scheduled loss,” which is the vernacular often used in the NHL for when a team is playing a second straight night. Typically, the odds are stacked against them, especially when facing a rested, elite opponent such as Los Angeles.

But the fact Laurent Brossoit started the front-end of the back-to-back in San Jose, and not Connor Hellebuyck, was telling. The Jets don’t usually do that, but they clearly wanted to bring their “A” lineup to face the Kings, especially after the way the previous game back in Winnipeg went where a 5-1 loss added insult to injury.

“We’re a family in there. It’s a very, very tight group. We’ve talked a lot about that. This game meant a lot to a lot of people. And we got some tremendous efforts,” said Jets coach Rick Bowness.

Vilardi, whose first goal with the Jets was the game-winner this past Sunday in Anaheim, appreciated the moral suppport on what he admits was a difficult night for him — one he’s now glad is over.

“You say it is just another game, at the end of the day, once you get out there and start playing, it’s just another game. But obviously coming here and being here was a big deal and I’m happy that we won,” he said.

“We’re a family. It’s amazing to see all of the guys stepping up and coming together for me and Al (Alex Iafallo). (Rasmus Kupari, the third piece of the Dubois trade) isn’t here (due to injury), but I guess you could say it was a more emotional game than normal.”

2) BUT FIRST, SOME CONTROVERSY, AND ADVERSITY: The first few minutes of the game, it appeared were being played under Hudson Bay rules, as in: anything goes. But then Nate Schmidt was called for a ticky-tack cross-check, and just like that the standard had changed. Or had it?

Because on the ensuing power play, Dylan Samberg was taken down with an eerily similar stick shove to his back — despite the fact he didn’t have the puck — and it created an immediate opening for Anze Kopitar to beat Connor Hellebuyck.

The Jets, to put it mildly, were irate. And for good reason.

The anger continued as the frame progressed, especially after Morgan Barron was tripped up, and dangerously so, by Lizotte, falling backwards. No call.

Winnipeg then fell behind 2-0 before the period was over after forward Alex Laferriere banked a puck in off Hellebuyck’s mask at 12:29 of the first period.

“I don’t know how they missed that (on Samberg). He got knocked down from behind,” said Bowness. “And then they shoot from the corner and it hits our guy in the mask, there’s nothing you can do about that. We’ll give up that shot every day.”

You wondered if that might just do it, resulting in the Jets closing up shop and calling it a night.

“We knew going into the second that yeah, we were down 2-0 but we were playing well,” said Bowness. “We were happy with the way we were playing, three games in four nights and the guys weren’t going to make any excuses, we were going to keep pushing the pace here.”

3) TOP LINE STANDS TALL: The trio of Mark Scheifele, Nikolaj Ehlers and Kyle Connor had been flying in recent games, but it all came to a crashing halt on Sunday when Ducks forward Ryan Strome took out Connor with a knee-on-knee hit. Just like that, Winnipeg’s top scorer was knocked out of the lineup, with an expected recovery time of 6-8 weeks.

Enter Vilardi, who was still trying to get back up to speed after recently coming back from his injury. Bowness moved him up to that top line, and on Wednesday they were practically unstoppable.

Ehlers got Winnipeg on the board at 6:08 of the second period, then added another at 13:19 off a dazzling rush. Vilardi had the primary assists on the eighth and ninth of the year for Ehlers, while Scheifele had a helper as well.

Then Scheifele gave Winnipeg its first lead, with exactly five minutes left in the middle frame, as Vilardi and Ehlers set him up. A wicked backhander by Vilardi at 2:30 of the third period gave Winnipeg some breathing room, and then Scheifele notched his second of the night, and 11th of the year, when Ehlers fed him for an empty-netter in the dying seconds.

“I thought we played really well last game. We just weren’t able to score on our chances, but we did that tonight,” said Ehlers.

“It’s always going to be like that. You’re going to have games where you’re playing really well and you’re getting all the chances, and it doesn’t go in. And then a game like tonight where everything seems to go in. That’s why I love the game too.”

Add it all up and Vilardi (4 points), Ehlers (4 points) and Scheifele (3 points) were dominant.

“Yeah we could have found a lot of excuses after going down 2-0. But you know we just battled back, played the right way, did some great things,” said Scheifele.

“Some big shot blocks, some really good plays there, some big saves by Bucky. You know it’s a big win.”

4) EXTRA, EXTRA: Hellebuyck stopped 32 of 34 shots, while Cam Talbot was made 24 saves in a losing effort.

Winnipeg went 0-for-2 on the power play, while Los Angeles went 1-for-4.

Dylan DeMelo played in his 500th career NHL game and had an assist on Vilardi’s goal.

After going with 11 forwards and seven defencemen against San Jose on Tuesday, the Jets reverted back to the standard 12/6 mix. Blue-liner Logan Stanley was replaced by forward Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, who skated on the fourth line with David Gustafsson and Barron. Defenceman Declan Chisholm and forward Dominic Toninato were the other two healthy scratches.

Bowness made one other lineup tweak, moving Iafallo up from the fourth line to the second line (in Barron’s spot) to play with Cole Perfetti and Vlad Namestnikov. After a hot start to the seaon, Iafallo is in an offensive funk. He’s now gone 13 straight games without a point.

Winnipeg will fly home on Thursday, then return to practice on Friday to prepare for the start of a four-game homestand on Saturday night with a visit from Colorado.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X: @mikemcintyrewpg