For those who think the Winnipeg Jets should’ve signed Cole Perfetti long-term this past summer, Tuesday night was an ‘I-told-you-so’ moment.
The 22-year-old was a difference-maker from the get-go of Winnipeg’s 3-2 win over the St. Louis Blues. It started with him generating two five-on-five scoring chances in the first period. Then he registered three assists in the second period. And finally, Perfetti made a potentially game-saving defensive stick lift on Brandon Saad, who, if not dealt with, was in prime position to score.
His teammates are hardly surprised by that type of outing from Perfetti, who has seven points through his first six games of the season.
“We know what type of player he is,” Kyle Connor told reporters post-game. “Really smart, really spacious and knows where everybody is on the ice. You can see it with a couple of the plays he made on the ice tonight.”
Perfetti may not wow the untrained eye — he’s not a quick skater and you shouldn’t expect him to pull off a dazzling toe-drag or a ‘Michigan’ — but he’s one of the NHL’s most cerebral young talents.
Take the stick lift, for example.
“It was one of those ones where you see the play develop,” Perfetti said. “I thought the guy was probably going to pass it back to him because it looked like he was almost backdoor and I just tried to get as much strength under it and lift his stick as hard as possible.”
It was another example of Perfetti executing based on his instincts. The same can be said about each of his three assists.
The first assist was made possible by a deceptive shoulder turn from Perfetti, who was retrieving a loose puck in the corner on the power play. He forced Ryan Suter to retreat, buying himself time and space before dishing it off to Neal Pionk, whose subsequent point shot was tipped home by Nino Niederreiter for the Jets’ first goal of the game.
The second apple was a perfectly placed pass to Colin Miller, the trailer in the transition chance. His slapper gave the Jets a 2-1 lead.
Perfetti’s final assist saw him retrieve the puck in the corner and dish the puck off to Dylan Samberg, who promptly teed up Connor for Winnipeg’s third goal
Samberg, Perfetti’s former roommate, admires the five-foot-11 forward’s ability to slow the game down.
“He takes that extra half a second to make a play, whereas other guys, if they don’t have a play right there, will either panic or just chip it in,” Samberg told Sportsnet after a practice earlier this month. “He’s got this calm confidence to him where he can wait that extra half a second and make a little head fake and buy him enough time.”
Winnipeg atop NHL standings
The Jets remain undefeated with a 6-0-0 record. They’ve been dominant in virtually every area of the ice.
|
Stat |
Rank |
Output |
|
Goals per game |
2nd |
4.50 |
|
Goals against per game |
1st |
1.67 |
|
Power play |
1st |
44.4% |
|
Penalty kill |
15th |
80% |
|
Save percentage |
1st |
.942 |
Big game for Big Stan
Logan Stanley appears to have the inside track on the Jets’ sixth defenceman spot.
Jets coach Scott Arniel played Stanley for a second straight game — his first two games of the season after missing Winnipeg’s first four games due to a knee injury — over Haydn Fleury. Winnipeg’s belief in Stanley, its 2016 first-round pick, is well documented. And fans may cringe to read this … but he actually had a pretty strong outing.
The six-foot-seven defencemen generated several clean zone exits, made a couple smart defensive plays and spent considerable time on the penalty kill.
For now, Stanley likely stays in the lineup over Fleury. But what happens once Ville Heinola is healthy?
Vilardi Drought
Gabriel Vilardi is snake bitten.
Vilardi is one of just four Jets forwards — alongside Alex Iaffalo, Morgan Baron and David Gustafsson — without a goal this season. He came incredibly close on a few occasions against the Blues but even with the poor luck, Vilardi hasn’t been shooting as much as he was last year.
After recording 2.48 shots per game and 0.83 power-play shots per game last year, Vilardi’s averaging just 0.83 shots per game and 0.16 power-play shots per game through his first six games.
One thing that’s interesting to note, too, is that Vilardi is averaging just 0.66 power-play shot attempts per game — a noticeable drop-off from last year (1.23).
