Unlike his last meeting with his former team, Pierre-Luc Dubois left the rink on Wednesday with a sullen expression on his face as his Los Angeles Kings suffered the horrors of the Winnipeg Jets.
While Dubois had helped his team to a 5-1 victory upon his return to Manitoba on October 17th, the story was somehow reversed in Gabriel Vilardi's first game in the City of Angels since the transaction between the two organizations was completed on June 27th. The Quebecer recorded an assist but couldn't prevent the Jets from flying away with a 5-2 win.
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Dubois remained barely visible during the confrontation and remained in the shadow of Vilardi, who scored four points, including a goal. Former Kings like Mark Scheifele and Nikolaj Ehlers had a great night, all maintaining a +5 margin.
The hero of the meeting seemed very happy that he came out ahead of the club that selected him in 11th place at the 2017 amateur auction.
“I was here and now I'm gone. That's the case with everyone. “I was drafted here, I had a great time, but in the end they didn't want me anymore,” he commented daily to the Winnipeg Sun. We are a family [chez les Jets]. It's great to see these guys standing up for me and Alex Iafallo and sticking together. You can tell it was a game with more emotions than usual.”
Another source of motivation in the visitors' camp was certainly the case of Blake Lizotte, who sent Vilardi to the floor for six weeks during the October session. The wearer of the Kings color tripped his opponent, who suffered a sprained ankle.
“I expressed my opinion. I think it was a stupid play on his part and I had to be on the sidelines for almost two months. Not everyone agrees with that. I have the right to think like that,” Vilardi recalled.
Bad series from Dubois
To return to Dubois, individual outages continued for several weeks. He hasn't scored since Nov. 18, extending the drought to 10 on Wednesday. His assist ended a streak of six pointless games; He has 12 points, including five goals, in 26 games in 2023-2024. Even though the Kings are doing relatively well, they expect a lot more from the owner of an eight-year, $68 million contract.
Los Angeles looks to bounce back with a visit to the Seattle Kraken on Saturday.