‘Gus Bus’ gaining speed

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/11/2023 (749 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

LAS VEGAS — David Gustafsson went 1,427 days in between scoring NHL goals, a drought that finally ended last week when he lit the lamp against the St. Louis Blues.

He would only have to wait six days before he popped his next one Monday night against the New York Rangers.

“It’s nice to finally get the reward,” the 23-year-old forward said Thursday, a few hours before puck drop against the Vegas Golden Knights.

“I feel like I came prepared for the season, and so far I feel like I’ve shown it.”

Yes, the “Gus Bus” is revving its engine, officially on a heater and showing no signs of slowing down. All aboard? Associate coach Scott Arniel certainly is.

“He’s just been real good about how he’s handled every day, he’s been real professional about everything and he’s a guy that all the guys love,’ said Arniel. “When he scores, the guys love to see that. He’s making the most of the opportunity.”

Over and over again, in fact.

Let’s go back to training camp, where one of the key job battles was going to be for the 13th forward on the roster. With four lines seemingly set in stone, Gustafsson was in tough against the likes of Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, Dominic Toninato, Jansen Harkins, Jeffrey Viel, Parker Ford and several others for the final spot up front.

Arniel and the rest of the coaching staff made it crystal clear to Gustafsson: Nothing would be gifted. Everything would be earned. He responded by going on an offensive tear, scoring three times in exhibition play and looking like an entirely different player than the guy with one career goal, scored way back in 2019, in 74 career NHL games.

“Probably the biggest thing that jumps out is that he knew that coming into camp, and he didn’t shy away, he didn’t get upset about it, he didn’t pout about it,” said Arniel. “He went out and had a great training camp for us. He scored in exhibitions as well and got that touch back.”

When camp ended, the 2018 second-round draft pick had made the cut. His reward? A trip to the press box on opening night as a healthy scratch, and the next two games after that as well.

Then Gabe Vilardi went down with a knee injury against the Los Angeles Kings on Oct. 17, and Gustafsson finally had his chance.

“You want to make the most of the chance you get, but you also don’t want to put too much pressure on yourself,” Gustafsson said. “I did that a lot last year, and that’s kind of where you get stuck.”

Indeed, Gustafsson feels like he swung and missed last year, getting the chance to play a career-high 46 games but coming up with just six assists. That wasn’t nearly enough for a Winnipeg team looking for secondary scoring.

“I feel like I created a lot of chances last year. Maybe I saved them all (goals) for this year. But it’s kind of bad,” Gustafsson said of the 2022-22 campaign.

“Hopefully in the end it made me a better player. After not scoring you work (hard). That’s all there is to it, to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

He suited up Thursday for a seventh consecutive game on a fourth line with Rasmus Kupari and Morgan Barron. Both his two goals were generated off gorgeous passes from Cole Perfetti, who is playing on the second line with Nikolaj Ehlers and Vlad Namestnikov.

In both cases, a blended line change had them briefly together.

“He’s a great passer. We played a lot on the Moose, too, so he’s been setting me up since then,” Gustafsson said with a laugh. “It’s fun to be on the ice at the same time.”

Arniel joked that Gustafsson “hasn’t come knocking” on his door just yet asking for a bump up the lineup and a permanent spot alongside Perfetti.

“It’s hard to do, and easier said than done, but I’ve got to keep my game going,” said Gustafsson. “Just because I scored two goals doesn’t mean I’m going to go out and start toe dragging. I’m still on the fourth line, and I’ve still got to go out there and make that work. But what I feel like I can do is whenever I get the chance to make an offensive play, I have to do that.”

Depth scoring is now a major strength of the Jets.

“Four lines that can really contribute, four lines that can go out and score. That’s a hard team to play against when you get four lines going at once,” said Gustafsson, who credited teammates Barron, Adam Lowry, Brenden Dillon and Neal Pionk with helping to show him the way, especially when times have gotten tough.

“There’s a bunch of guys on the team to lean on, a lot of good guys in the locker room,” he said. “Lows and Barron are guys I watch during the game to see what’s made them NHL players. Those two guys I look up to and try to be like. Off the ice too, Neal and Dilly are two guys who have helped me out.”

Nothing is permanent, and it’s worth noting that Vilardi’s recovery timeline of four to six weeks means he could potentially be back in the lineup by mid-November. Back to the press box for Gustafsson? Not if he can help it.

“If you get the chance to go in as the 13th forward, you want to make sure by the time somebody gets back, you want to be at least the 12th forward,” he said. “That’s my goal.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X: @mikemcintyrewpg