Practice report - Vilardi works on his game

WINNIPEG – It’s been a tough couple of weeks for Winnipeg Jet forward Gabriel Vilardi.

Vilardi missed a couple of games with a lower body injury right before the All-Star break and since his return to the lineup he has been trying to find his game.

"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. That’s the most obvious thing that that I’m focusing on,” said Vilardi.

“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.”

To his defence, Vilardi is working with a new centre (Sean Monahan) and a winger who he hasn’t played with a lot in Cole Perfetti. The Jets had their second straight full practice on Tuesday before they face the San Jose Sharks at Canada Life Centre tomorrow night. As beneficial as the extra practice time is, the 24-year-old would rather play games.

“I'd honestly rather just play, get into the flow of things. Our schedule has been favourable for the majority of this season. We got March coming up where we're going to play a lot of hockey. But it depends,” said Vilardi.

“For me, right now, I'd rather be playing hockey every other day, just getting into a flow and kind of feeling it out there, kind of gain that confidence through games. Yeah, it's good to come out here and practice and get into a rhythm with Sean and Fetts, two guys that I haven't really played with that much this year. There's that aspect to it. But then there's the aspect where I just want to play hockey." 

Vilardi missed a lot of time with a knee injury earlier in the season and as mentioned earlier a two more games before the break. Rick Bowness says that they have had conversations with Vilardi about a couple of things they would like him to work on.

“We just want him to use the ice a little more, the open ice a little bit better. He's getting jammed up in the corners. So, we're just working with him to try to get away from cutting back into getting a lot of pressure on him,” said Bowness.

“So last game, there were a couple of times when he brought it out, got the D involved, came up high looking for shots, so. He just got bogged down in the corners so we're trying to get him out of there. Now he's very good and he's big and strong in there but, this time of year, it gets harder to win those battles.”

SCHEDULE ABOUT TO GET HEAVY

These long stretches without games are about to come to an end for the Jets, they play Wednesday against San Jose and then wait until Saturday before facing the Vancouver Canucks. Then it’s six games over 11 days during the final weeks of this month, leading up to the 16-game gauntlet in the month of March.

“Obviously it’s nice to get some practice time. We don’t get that a lot during the season, especially once we get going. Even with the break, we kind of went right back into a pretty solid schedule.  It’s nice to get this time. Try to make the most of it. Obviously work on some special teams, work on some unique situations,” said Josh Morrissey.

“Honestly, as a player, just work on some things in practice that you can’t really do at a morning skate. It’s nice, we’re trying to get ready for tomorrow’s game, then a couple more days before we play Vancouver. Just use this week to get sharp on work on things we don’t get a chance to during the season.”