Vilardi focused on finding his way back onto the scoresheet

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This article was published 13/02/2024 (601 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Gabe Vilardi bristled at the idea he’s coming off a pretty solid hockey game.

“You thought I had it Saturday night?” the Winnipeg Jets forward said in response to a radio broadcaster’s suggestion during a scrum on Tuesday. After a bit of back-and-forth discussion — including thanking the scribe for his praise — Vilardi made his own opinion known.

“I think it’s pretty clear I haven’t been playing that great.”

Vilardi has gone five games without a point, which is officially the longest slump of his rather short tenure with the Jets. Coach Rick Bowness clearly wasn’t a big fan of what he saw either in the 2-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins, stapling Vilardi to the bench for much of the third period. He played just 13:05, which is about four minutes less than usual.

“You just go through stretches. Everybody goes through them throughout the year. It’s kind of one of those times for me where I’m not generating as much,” said Vilardi, who is now skating on a new-look second line with Sean Monahan and Cole Perfetti.

“It’s not just I’m not putting up points but I’m not creating as much and helping my linemates as much, maybe. There’s certain things that I’ve been watching a lot of video and trying to focus on. Hopefully, I can get out of this.”

So what exactly is the problem?

“I like to call it playing hands hockey, where I’m not moving my legs and not using my body. I’m just kind of using my hands and thinking the game and my hands and my brain are moving faster than my legs,” said Vilardi, who has 20 points (11 goals, nine assists) in 30 games while missing 20 others due to injury.

“That’s not something that works with me because I’m not the most efficient skater, I’m not the best skater, and I know that. It’s just working out these little slumps that everyone goes through. I’m going through one right now and I got to figure it out on my own. No one is going to do it for me.”

Vilardi has plenty of company when it comes to offensive struggles, as Winnipeg’s production has dried up lately at both five-on-five and especially on the power play.

The Jets hope to get that going when they face the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday at Canada Life Centre before heading out on the road to play a pair of games in Vancouver and Calgary.

“He’s hard on himself,” Bowness said of Vilardi. “He’s a true pro. He’s a pleasure to coach, I’ll tell you that, because it’s easy to sit down with him and talk to him and explain those things and he gets it. And he’s hard on himself so he knows what happened, so he’ll be better.”

You’d expect some growing pains with the Vilardi, Monahan and Perfetti trio, considering they’ve played less than two full games together. Vilardi had been skating on the top line with Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor until Nikolaj Ehlers took his place last Thursday in Philadelphia.

“They are both really smart players, make good plays. We gotta try and generate,” said Vilardi. “Obviously, we’re not scoring many goals as a team right now. That’s something that we have to continue to work on.”

Perhaps the Sharks can help cure what ails them. Not only is San Jose the 31st-ranked team in the NHL. they’ll be without leading scorer Tomas Hertl and captain Logan Couture due to injuries while also playing for the first time in two weeks.

Vilardi said a return to basics is usually the best way out of a drought.

“There’s some truth to that. Get to the front of the net, get to the spot where all the goals are scored,” he said.

“You want to get to the dirty areas, get one of those quick rebound or tip-in goals that are nice. But on the other side of that, you gotta generate other ways, too. I could have the puck on my stick more. It’s easy to go to the net and, ‘Hey, D, shoot it to the net and I’ll make a play.’ It’s not always that simple. Guys are blocking shots, teams have good structure. You gotta generate other ways, whether that’s off the cycle, off the rush, whatever it is.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X: @mikemcintyrewpg