Gabe Vilardi Postgame The Winnipeg Jets are expected to be without forward Gabriel Vilardi for Saturday's morning contest against the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena. After Vilardi sat out the entirety of the third period on Thursday in Dallas due to injury, head coach Rick Bowness made it clear he had concern about the first-year Jets forward's availability for the weekend back-to-back. "Well, Gabe is hurt. First of all, Gabe's not benched. Gabe is dealing with an upper body injury," he clarified following the game. "We had to cut back because he was struggling out there, you could tell, so we had to make an adjustment with that." The team remained in Dallas overnight Thursday and skated Friday morning, before hopping on their flight to Carolina later in the day. Four players, however, did not participate in the practice, including that of Vilardi. Fellow forwards Sean Monahan, Nikolaj Ehlers and Mason Appleton were also absent from the skate, to which Bowness says each will be considered game-time decisions on Saturday. “Hoping he can play tomorrow,” Bowness said of Vilardi on Friday. “We’ll see how he feels tomorrow.” “We won’t know our line-up until we get to the rink." With Vilardi -and possibly others - unable to go on Saturday, healthy scratches Rasmus Kupari and David Gustafsson will be ready to step in in their places. Logan Stanley will also be an option, should the team choose to go with an unconventional 11/7 forward/defence split.
