Sidelined since March 26 with an upper-body injury, Vilardi’s 23 regular-season goals were fourth on the team behind Adrian Kempe (41), Anze Kopitar (28) and Viktor Arvidsson (26).
| UPDATED:EDMONTON, Alberta — There is a long-standing truism in hockey – that you don’t change or otherwise mess with a winning formula.The exception is when you have a skilled playmaker who happened to score 23 goals in the regular season on deck and ready to go for Game 2.Vilardi’s regular-season output came in just 63 games and with the absence of the injured Kevin Fiala, the Kings need all the goal-scoring they can get.
In October, for example, he had eight goals in the first 11 games and wrapped up the month with goals in four straight games. Playing against one of the most dynamic offensive teams in the league, Vilardi might give you something at even strength or on the second power-play unit. The only Kings players to score more goals than Vilardi during the regular season were Adrian Kempe , Anze Kopitar and Viktor Arvidsson . Fiala had 23 goals in 69 games.
With the lineup change, it wasn’t as though the Kings were taking out someone who had played big minutes in the season opener. The odd-man out for Game 2 was forward Jaret Anderson-Dolan who played just under seven minutes in Game 1, the lowest among the Kings forwards and the only player to log less than 10 minutes of ice time.
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