Vilardi closing in on return

WINNIPEG – The Winnipeg Jets held a thirty-minute plus skate this morning before departing for Florida where they will play two games before wrapping up the road trip in Nashville on Sunday.

The Jets are coming off a 4-1 homestand in which they won the final three games beating New Jersey, Buffalo and Arizona last week. The win over the Coyotes on Saturday night saw the Jets hold their opponent to just seven shots over the final forty minutes.

“It was a great job by our guys just staying with games. You never know how each one unfolds in its own different way. But how we finished it off, I think we gave up three shots in the last 30 minutes of the game and no scoring chances,” said associate coach Scott Arniel.

“It’s a pretty good sign of how we’ve been playing without the puck. That’s probably been the biggest message the last five games is that we’re making it hard for the opposition to get offence and it’s going to be real important as we go out on the road now.”

Another positive for the Jets as they go back on the road, is the goal scoring tear that Kyle Connor is on right now. As of Monday morning, Connor is tied with the Maple Leafs Auston Matthews with 14 goals. He scored his fifth game winning goal of the season on Saturday when he broke a 2-2 tie in the second period.

“During the season you don’t have time to think about that. It’s pretty far in the back of my mind to be honest,” said Connor.

“At the end of the year obviously I look back at how the year went. Obviously grateful for all the good teams and seeing what I can improve on. But right now, its focus on that next opponent and keep trying to get better in any way possible.”

Connor was on the ice this morning with his usual linemates Mark Scheifele and Alex Iafallo. Vladislav Namestnikov and Morgan Barron did not take part of the skate at hockey for all centre as both were taking maintenance days.

As shown by the line rushes, Gabriel Vilardi took part of a full practice with a non-contact jersey on skating with David Gustafsson and Axel Jonsson-Fjallby. Vilardi is still recovering from an MCL sprain suffered back in October and by the sounds of it there is a chance that he could play on this road trip.

“Biggest thing is that was his first real, I mean I know he’s been out on the ice doing some sort of shooting conditioning stuff here but that was his first one with all of the guys. Getting in line rushes and being in the situation where he may have to shift his weight, where he may happen to run into somebody,” said Arniel.

“He’ll do a little more of that as this week goes on and we’ll see, we’ll just take it day-to-day. First, he has to feel comfortable with his knee and his situation and the second thing is his conditioning. That’s a big one. We don’t want to put him out there where if he’s not ready to go close to 100 per cent.”