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The Winnipeg Jets rescued their “make or break” homestand with a pair of huge wins over Colorado and St. Louis on the weekend.
It’s not unlike how Cole Perfetti has “resurrected” what was once looking like a lost season on an individual basis.
It did not look good for Winnipeg when they began the week by delivering consecutive “underwhelming” performances in the disappointing defeats to Anaheim and the Rangers.
With back-to-back visits from league-leading Colorado and red-hot St. Louis on the horizon, the homestand was beginning to look like a lost cause — until the Jets recovered for those impressive 3-1 and 3-2 decisions over the Avs and Blues, respectively.
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You could write a similar script to outline how the season has gone to date for Perfetti. After struggling for most of November and December while coming back off a high ankle sprain, a critical season for the 24-year-old forward was taking on water and in danger of going under.
But a lifeboat arrived in the form of the Christmas Break and, ever since, Perfetti has steadily looked more and more like the player who produced the Manitoba Miracle.
Promotion to the No. 1 power-play unit, and while the Jets have struggled with the extra skater, the offensive production has returned for No. 91, with 10 points in the last 13 games in particular.
And so has the 200-foot game. Perfetti has been consistently playing on a shutdown line of sorts with Adam Lowry and has earned trust from the coaching staff to the point where, during this homestand, he was out on the ice for a huge late-game tying goal against Chicago, and that clutch empty net clincher versus the Avs Saturday afternoon after poke-checking the puck away from Nathan MacKinnon.
How discussions go on a 3rd pro contract fall into the “to be determined” category. But one thing is for sure — Perfetti has played himself into a much more favourable bargaining position when negotiations do eventually get underway.
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