Villardi focused on getting back on the scoresheet – Winnipeg Free Press

Gabe Vilardi realized he was coming off a good hockey game.

“Did you think I had Saturday night?” The Winnipeg Jets forward said this in response to a suggestion from a radio announcer during Tuesday's scrum. After some back-and-forth, including thanking the writer for the compliment, Villardi made his point.

“I think obviously I didn't play that great.”

Villardi went five games without a point, his longest streak in his short tenure with the Jets. Coach Rick Bowness was clearly not a fan of what he saw in a 2-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins, with Villardi sitting on the bench for most of the third period. He played just 13:05, about four minutes less than usual.

“You just go through a stretch. Everyone goes through them throughout the year. It's one of those periods where I'm not producing as much,” said Villardi, who now skates on the new-look second line with Sean Monahan and Cole Perfetti.

“I'm not scoring, but I'm not doing much and I'm not helping my teammates as much. There are certain things that I watch a lot of videos and try to focus on. I hope I can get away with it.”

So what exactly is the problem?

“I like to call it hand hockey, where I don't move my legs and I don't use my body. I'm just using my hands and I think the game, my hands and my brain are moving faster than my feet,” said Vilardi, who has 20 points (11 goals, nine assists) in 30 games and has missed 20 more. injury.

“It'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 handling these little dips that everyone goes through. I'm going through one right now and need to figure it out on my own. No one will do it for me.”

As Winnipeg's production has dried up on the five-on-five of late, especially on the power play, Villardi has plenty of partnership on offense.

The Jets hope to build on that when they take on the San Jose Sharks at the Canadian Life Center on Wednesday before hitting the road for a pair of games in Vancouver and Calgary.

“He's hard on himself,” Bowness said of Villardi. “He is a true professional. He's a joy to coach, I tell you, because it's easy to sit down with him and talk to him and explain those things and he understands. And he knows what happened, so he'll be fine.”

Considering the trio of Villardi, Monahan and Perfetti played less than two full games together, you'd expect some trouble from them. Villardi skated with Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor last Thursday in Philadelphia before being replaced by Nikolaj Ehlers.

“Both are very smart players, play well. We have to try and generate,” Villardi said. “Obviously, we're not scoring a lot of goals as a team right now. It's something we have to continue to work on.”

Maybe sharks can help cure their disease. San Jose is not only the 31st team in the NHL. They will be without leading scorer Tomas Gertl and captain Logan Couture due to injury and will play for the first time in two weeks.

According to Villardi, going back to basics is usually the best way to get out of a drought.

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

“You want to go to dirty places, get a quick climb or one of the better objectives. But on the other hand, you have to do other ways too. I can keep the puck on my stick more. It's easy to go to the net and say, “Hey D, put it in the net and I'll make a play.” It is not always simple. Guys are blocking shots, teams are well structured. You have to make other ways, it doesn't matter whether it's off-cycle or not.”

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Mike McIntyre
Sports reporter

Mike McIntyre grew up wanting to be a professional wrestler. But when this dream did not come true, he tried his best to become a professional writer.

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