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WINNIPEG — Gabriel Vilardi doesn’t think he needs superpowers to make a big Game 5 impact for the Winnipeg Jets. “I’m hopeful to make a big impact,” Vilardi said after Tuesday’s practice. “I’m not going to be Superman or anybody like that.
I’m just going to go play.” Vilardi’s return to Winnipeg’s lineup could save the Jets all the same. The ripple effects of his return to the Jets’ top line will have far-reaching effects — not only via the puck protection and vision he adds to Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor’s line, but throughout the Jets lineup.
Scott Arniel has moved Alex Iafallo to Winnipeg’s second line, with Vladislav Namestnikov and Cole Perfetti. Arniel has also moved Nino Niederreiter back to what had been the top shutdown line in the NHL, with Adam Lowry and Mason Appleton. Advertisement In this way, Winnipeg improves three lines with the return of one player.
Consider the first thought Arniel offered about Vilardi’s impact Tuesday. When asked how Vilardi would help Winnipeg in Game 5, Arniel gave his entire response without talking about Vilardi at all. “It pushes people back down to where they normally play,” Arniel said.
“It really changes things for us in the sense of the offence that we can produce, not just from our top guys but spreading it back out through our lineup.” In a way, this makes Vilardi more Robin Hood than Superman. He’s redistributing Winnipeg’s greatest asset — an abundance of quality middle-six forwards — and just in time, given the number of those forwards who need to be better for the Jets to win Game 5.
Let’s dig deeper into Vilardi’s impacts, one step at a time. Will Winnipeg be able to save its series? Vilardi’s impact on the Jets’ top power play The puck usually starts in Scheifele’s hands, but Vilardi is the true quarterback of Winnipeg’s top power play. The Jets’ season-long advantage has been about creating more attacking threats than opposing teams can handle; more often than not, Vilardi’s role is to choose which weapon to use.
The Jets were at their most dangerous when Vilardi could choose between Connor across the slot, Nikolaj Ehlers in the middle, or a net-front drive of his own. It’s not their only look — Connor and Ehlers offered a dangerous mirror-image of Scheifele and Vilardi when the Jets’ power play was on pace to set records — but it’s their best one. You might be surprised at how often the Jets’ top unit has scored with Perfetti in Ehlers’ spot.
Ehlers’ skill set is missed — particularly on loose puck recoveries after Jets shots — but Winnipeg has scored at will with Perfetti, too. Both of these goals per 60-minute rates are brilliant: Arniel summarized Vilardi’s impact perfectly. “He just becomes another threat, right? KC’s shot’s a threat.
J-Mo’s shot is a threat. Scheif’s playmaking ability, Fetts in the pop area is a threat. Now there’s a fifth one there.
If you leave him alone, he can do things down there, whether that’s take the puck to the net himself. ..
. He’s a really good passer as well.” Advertisement The Jets’ power play has scored just twice in 12 opportunities for a 16.
7 percent success rate that ranks 13th of 16 in the playoffs. If Perfetti’s Game 3 goal had counted, Winnipeg would improve to 25 percent. They ran even hotter than that — an NHL best 29.
8 percent — with Vilardi attacking from beside the net during the regular season. None of this hype will matter if the Jets don’t make it to the power play, though. They’ve been given three opportunities per game — tied for 10th in the playoffs.
The majority of the game still happens at five-on-five — the Jets will have to be better there, too. Will they be? Vilardi’s impact on Lowry, Niederreiter and Appleton The Jets ran an excellent shutdown line of Lowry, Appleton and Niederreiter for the majority of the season. They dominated the flow of play and got an even better share of goals at five-on-five for most of the season before slipping a little late.
Lowry’s line with Appleton and Brandon Tanev has controlled the flow of play against St. Louis, but its one goal was scored into an empty net at the end of Game 1. Niederreiter brings less chaos but more protection than Tanev did.
Niederreiter’s crease-crashing impact matters here, too — he and Appleton found each other with well-timed cross-ice passes several times this season. Their dramatic, 22-12 goals advantage seems like a tough ask against the Blues, but the offensive upgrade from Tanev to Niederreiter is real. All of this is particularly meaningful as two of the remaining three games — if necessary — will be played in Winnipeg, with the Jets having last change.
Alex Iafallo’s impact with Cole Perfetti and Vladislav Namestnikov It seems to me that Iafallo and not Niederreiter is the ideal complement to Perfetti and Namestnikov on line two. Iafallo plays a faster offensive game, winning battles and then moving the puck onto teammates’ sticks as quickly as he can. Meanwhile, Perfetti does his best work while holding on to the puck and finding small gaps in coverage in the middle of the ice.
Niederreiter’s offensive strengths tend to involve slowing the game down by winning board battles before getting to the net; Iafallo has more vision to find the next skilled play. The Iafallo-Namestnikov-Perfetti line won the flow of play battle during limited regular-season minutes: Ehlers’ good health would obviously be the best boost for Perfetti and Namestnikov, but Iafallo had a positive impact too — certainly superior to Niederreiter in that same role. It’s worth noting that 39 minutes is a small sample; if Arniel picked the context just right or the line happened to be extra hot for a couple of nights, it would be more than enough to skew the flow of play metrics.
Advertisement Perfetti’s perseverance may be the key. It’s tempting to look for reasons to believe he’s outmatched by playoff intensity or that his game went south after his Game 3 goal was called back. Arniel says he’s been good — that “the big thing about him is that he really doesn’t get down on himself.
” “I like a lot of what he’s doing,” Arniel said. “He’s not a big-body man guy but, man, he’s playing on the inside, he’s going to the net, he’s creating his own opportunities.” Whether Perfetti or Namestnikov can join Iafallo as one of Winnipeg’s few goal scorers so far, the line is well worth a look now that Vilardi is back.
Connor, Scheifele and Vilardi: Isn’t this where we came in? There is poetry in a Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi reunion offering the Jets a lifeline in this series. It’s easy to forget that sticking with them to start the year was one of Arniel’s biggest bets as head coach. Winnipeg’s top line had been outscored and outchanced, but Arniel showed faith in them to start the year.
“You’re going to have to trust your feel as a head coach,” Arniel told The Athletic before the season began . “There is chemistry built. A lot of history that you see with great lines is there’s always been two guys (who make it work).
So who are those two guys? Is it KC and Scheif? I don’t know. Is it Gabe and Scheif? I don’t know. That’s part of what we’ve been trying to build.
Injuries disrupt things sometimes, particularly with Gabe last year.” Arniel was right to stick with them. All three of Connor, Scheifele and Vilardi delivered the best individual seasons of their careers.
The power play was a big part of that, but not the only part — the line’s defensive play was worlds better than it was last season. It went from outscored and outchanced to giving Winnipeg a 49-36 lead on the scoreboard, while controlling 53 percent of expected goals. “They have a feel for each other,” Arniel said.
“You’re comfortable when you go into a high-pressure game and you know what your linemate is going to do.” Advertisement Game 5 is as high-pressure as it comes. A win or a loss does not win or lose Round 1, but it’s difficult to imagine the Jets going back to St.
Louis after losing three straight and pulling out a series win — not after what happened against Colorado last year or Vegas the year before that. So don’t expect Arniel to slow-play Vilardi on his way back into the lineup. He has one of his top weapons back.
Why keep it holstered in the biggest game of the year? Vilardi is going back to the top line and will play as big of a role as he can handle. “There’s no working back into it,” Vilardi said Tuesday. “Every play matters right now.
” It’s rare for one player’s return to snap three lines into place, but that’s what’s happening. Winnipeg’s heavy line-matching approach is aided by Vilardi’s return and by home-ice advantage in two out of three remaining games. The Jets have had two days to erase the pain of their St.
Louis road trip — two days to reset their focus. Despite all of the talk of the Blues’ momentum, this series is tied 2-2. Vilardi admits it was hard to be on the outside, looking in, while feeling the same roller-coaster emotions as his teammates.
“It’s definitely tough not to be out there and feel like you’re a part of the highs, the lows, whatever. ..
. (It) just feels (like) you’re on your own. But it is what it is — now I’m back and that’s that.
” (Photo: James Carey Lauder / Imagn Images).
