Wanna win? Put Perfetti in

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 01/04/2024 (553 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Cole Perfetti woke up Monday morning not even sure he was going to be in the Winnipeg Jets lineup. He was, after all, a healthy scratch the last two games. Just as he’s been on several other recent occasions.

Such is life for the struggling young skater, who had just one goal and one assist over his last 23 games while primarily playing a fourth-line role.

But when top winger Tyler Toffoli called in sick, a golden opportunity presented itself. Not only would Perfetti get to play, but it would be in Toffoli’s spot on the second line beside Sean Monahan and Kyle Connor.

It’s safe to say the 22-year-old took full advantage.

Perfetti scored twice, including the game-winner with just under seven minutes left in regulation, and added an assist as the Jets got a much-needed 4-3 victory over the Los Angeles Kings.

Have yourself a night, kid.

“I’m not going to lie, it wasn’t easy. It has been tough the last little bit. I just tried to come to work every day with a positive mindset and be a good teammate,” said Perfetti.

“If an opportunity presented itself, I just wanted to be ready. An opportunity came tonight, and I just tried whatever I could to seize the moment. The last 25 games has been a rollercoaster. But just being ready at all times and staying engaged and focused in practices and just trying to be the best I can be. Tonight felt really good.”

Winnipeg snaps a season-high six game winless streak (0-5-1) and improves to 45-24-6. They remain in third place in the Central Division – seven points behind the first-place Dallas Stars and four behind the second-place Colorado Avalanche. All three teams have seven regular-season games remaining.

“Obviously it’s great to get off the losing streak,” said defenceman Josh Morrissey.

“We played hard. Went through a little bit of adversity going down in the game. Found a way to come back multiple times I guess. Didn’t lose our confidence. I thought we did a good job. It’s nice to get that one. Hopefully we can look forward now and continue to get our game right.”

Los Angeles falls for a third straight outing, all in regulation, and are now 38-25-11. They occupy the final Western Conference wildcard playoff spot, but are just three points up on the streaking St. Louis Blues

Here’s a detailed breakdown of the action:

1) Cole comes through — How excited was Perfetti to get out of his funk? Well, he accidentally dropped an F-bomb on live television, speaking with TSN during the first intermission.

Whoops.

With nothing really going his way lately, Perfetti opened the scoring at 11:14 of the first period, banging home a loose puck at the side of the Los Angeles net.

“It was huge for my confidence. Just getting put in there for that chance. And then obviously, going to the net and banging one in early. That felt great,” said Perfetti.

It was a sign of things to come.

With the Jets down 3-2 late in the second period, Perfetti made a terrific feed to Josh Morrissey in the slot, as the Jets defenceman wired home his ninth goal of the year.

“It was a great dish. He played a great game. Nice to see him using his tools out there and playing with confidence,” said Morrissey.

Just like that, Perfetti had matched his production over the past two-and-a-half months in 40 minutes of play.

He wasn’t finished, however.

With the Jets on a power play and the clock ticking down in the third period, Trevor Moore had a shorthanded breakaway that ended with his shot going high.

Seconds later, Perfetti took a drop pass from Neal Pionk and beat Cam Talbot clean for his 17th of the season — and the biggest, for sure.

“I was a little nervous there, luckily they didn’t score,” said Perfetti. “But it led right the other way for our goal. That was a big swing, obviously. Really big.”

In doing so, he made a compelling case to remain in the lineup going forward.

“He’s been working really hard. The coaches have been spending a lot of time with him,” said coach Rick Bowness.

“I did tell him, ‘Listen, when you get back in, we’re going to give you more time with the top six.’ That’s more his game, so he took full advantage of it. Give him credit for that. Tyler goes down and he’s ready to go. We put him in there and he did a great job tonight.”

2) Fighting the puck — Laurent Brossoit has been solid to stellar pretty much every time he’s taken the net this season. But his 20th start didn’t go quite as smoothly, as he seemed to be fighting the puck — and losing track of his positioning in the net — for much of the night.

The first example came just 76 seconds after Perfetti opened the scoring as Viktor Arvidsson, streaking down the left wing, scored on an unobstructed shot Brossoit would certainly want back.

Kevin Fiala gave the visitors a 2-1 lead early in the second period as he spun, shot and scored from the slot. Brossoit had some traffic in front of him, but he never could get a clear view of the play.

After Monahan tied it up for Winnipeg at 11:49 of the middle frame, with a Morrissey pass attempt deflecting off his skate and in, Anze Kopitar gave the Kings the lead back at 13:56. Once again, it was the type of shot you’d expect Brossoit would get a piece of more times than not.

Fortunately for Brossoit and the Jets, he managed to settle down a bit in the third, stopping all 11 shots he faced to improve his personal record to 13-5-2. He finished with 25 stops on 28 shots.

3) Blue-line makeover — With the Jets mired in a funk, coach Rick Bowness got out the blender on his blue-line and changed up all three pairs.

He put Pionk and Morrissey together, had Dylan Samberg and Dylan DeMelo on the second pairing, and Nate Schmidt and Brenden Dillon on the third.

Bowness also reunited the top line of Mark Scheifele, Nikolaj Ehlers and Gabe Vilardi, which had great success earlier in the year but had been broken up recently (Vilardi just missed 15 games with an enlarged spleen).

“You’ve got to try different things. We can’t keep running back the same pairs, we can’t keep running back the same lines. That’s enough,” Bowness said following the morning skate. “Six games in a row. It’s nice to say we hung in there and we had a chance, but there’s no moral victories. We have to find a way to get the two points.”

For one night at least, it worked.

“I thought it was a hard-fought game. That’s an excellent team over there. They’re battling for their playoff positioning as well, so that was a hard-fought game,” said Bowness.

“They were on top of us at times, we were on top of them at times. It was a pretty even game. But yeah, it was good to see us… I know we had to keep tying it up but there was a lot of fight in our group tonight, for sure.”

4) Man in stripes – It was an emotional night for Winnipegger Ryan Galloway. The NHL linesman wrapped up his 22-year career in his own backyard, with a few hundred family member and friends looking on from the stands. Many of them were decked out in referee garb with his number on the back.

Galloway, 52, began officiating minor hockey league games in St. James at the age of 12, worked his first professional game in 1996 here in Winnipeg when the Manitoba Moose of the now-defunct IHL began play, then got hired by the NHL in 2002.

He picked the final crew he got to work with, consisting of fellow linesman Trent Knorr and referees Trevor Hanson and Dan O’Rourke.

Galloway was given a video tribute during a TV timeout, which had fans on their feet applauding. Following the game, members of the Jets and Kings lined up to shake his hand and wish him well with a few — including Jets captain Adam Lowry and Kings captain Kopitar — giving him their jerseys.

Galloway took a final lap on the ice, holding his hand to his heart, as he was cheered off the ice.

“Obviously he’s one of the great ones, so our game’s going to miss him,” said Morrissey.

“As a defenceman, probably your most interaction with the linesman is picking up pucks on icings and giving it to them. So many times throughout the years, the game happens fast and he always read the play so well. I don’t think there was once I ever felt he was in the way out there. Just had a great feel for the game, a great sense of humour and energy. Always said ‘Hi’ every game and had a big smile on his face. A special moment for him, being from Winnipeg. I think that the fans embracing him, both teams, was pretty special for me to watch. The game’s definitely going to miss him. Congratulations to him on an amazing career.”

5) Extra, extra – The Jets went 0-for-1 on the power play, as Perfetti’s game-winner came two seconds after Los Angeles’ only penalty had expired. Winnipeg didn’t commit any hockey sins on the night.

A crowd of 13,334 took in the game, which began at 8 p.m. due to Sportsnet owning an exclusive window for their Monday Night Hockey broadcast of Toronto vs Florida that prevents other Canadian games from starting within two hours.

Nino Niederreiter didn’t finish the game for the Jets after suffering an injury early in the third period. Bowness said he suffered a skate cut to his leg that required stitches, and a further update on his status would come on Wednesday when the team returns for practice.

Forwards Rasmus Kupari and David Gustafsson and defencemen Logan Stanley and Colin Miller were the healthy scratches for Winnipeg.

The Jets will wrap up their five-game homestand on Thursday night against the Calgary Flames.

6) The kids are alright — The future continues to look bright for the Jets — especially with regards to a pair of 2022 first-round draft picks.

Forward Rutger McGroarty is headed to the NCAA ‘s “Frozen Four” after his Michigan Wolverines won a pair of elimination games this past weekend. His team will now face Boston College on Apr. 11 in St. Paul. The winner of that game advances to the final on Apr. 13 against the winner of Denver vs Boston University. It’s not clear if McGroarty, selected 14th overall, will turn pro at the end of his season and join the Jets organization, or head back to college for one more season.

And how about forward Brad Lambert, who was named the AHL’s rookie of the month on Monday after putting up 18 points (four goals, 14 assists) in 13 games with the Moose. The 30th-overall pick leads Manitoba in scoring with 49 points (19G, 30A) which ranks second among all first-year AHL skaters.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X: @mikemcintyrewpg