It was a newsy day down at the Hockey for All Centre as the Winnipeg Jets continued their preparation for Game 5 on Wednesday evening with a practice this morning.
Gabriel Vilardi resumes top-line role
Gabriel Vilardi is good to go in Game 5. He will slot into a familiar role on the top line alongside Kyle Connor and Mark Scheifele, a trio that played the most amount of five-on-five minutes of any line combination in the NHL during the regular season (907).
Photo Credit: Colby Spence (Illegal Curve)
The Jets could certainly use the scoring boost, having scored just three goals in their back-to-back losses in St. Louis.
Arguably, the biggest area that Gabriel Vilardi could provide a spark is with the man-advantage. Winnipeg’s power play is 2/12 (16.3%) in this series so far, a steep fall from the 29.8% they finished the regular season at. Adding Vilardi’s skills at the side of the net gives the Jets’ power play another passing and shooting threat, and a player who can change a game with a key goal in a critical moment.
“It just becomes another threat,” Arniel said on Vilardi’s power play impact. “Now you’ve got your five threats that make it a little bit tougher for the penalty killers to shut everybody off.”
Vilardi enjoyed a career year in the regular season, playing a career-high 71 games and scoring a career-high in goals (27), assists (34), and points (61).
Vilardi stated after practice that he is “hopeful to make a big impact” and that he’s “not going to be Superman or anybody like that, I’m just going to go play.”
Game 5 begins at 8:30 PM on Wednesday evening from Canada Life Centre, where the Winnipeg Jets will look for Gabriel Vilardi to provide them a super-scoring boost.
Nikolaj Ehlers is skating
Nikolaj Ehlers was on the ice, skating around and shooting pucks as he participated in solo drills apart from the full team practice. This wasn’t the first time Ehlers had skated, Scott Arniel said.
Ehlers skated when the team was in St. Louis, facing the Blues in games three and four.
Arniel also stated that Ehlers will take part in Winnipeg’s morning skate on Wednesday in a yellow, non-contact jersey.
Ehlers, who last played on April 12 against the Chicago Blackhawks, was initially listed as week-to-week. With him skating and joining the team in a non-contact jersey on Wednesday, his potential availability for a potential second-round series is looking more promising after today’s update.
Stay tuned to illegalcurve.com for lineup notes on Wednesday morning and a special edition IC pre-game show live from Cityplace starting at 6:30 PM CDT (or join here) and then after the final buzzer on the Illegal Curve Post-Game Show.
