Following flu-ridden night, Perfetti bags three assists as Jets down Penguins

PITTSBURGH — Cole Perfetti didn’t look like someone who didn’t have a whole lot left in the tank. But when the day began, he was far from a sure thing to even be in the lineup.

We’ll spare you most of the gory details of what the Winnipeg Jets forward endured during the past 48 hours as he was the latest Jet to deal with a violent flu bug that’s been making its way through the dressing room over the course of the past several weeks.

Perfetti went from game-time decision — the Jets even called up forward Jansen Harkins from the Manitoba Moose on an emergency basis — to chipping in three helpers in a 4-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday.

“Yeah, I was pretty sick,” said Perfetti. “There’s a bit of a flu going around our team. (Morgan) Barron caught it, and I was sitting at dinner with him the night before. So I kind of figured it might come at some point. And then I ended up getting hit with it around 4:30, (just) before the game (against the Buffalo Sabres). Kind of got a fever, chills and then lots of trips to the bathroom, puking. Yeah, it was a tough game. I didn’t feel good. It was probably the worst 

“I thought last night, the way I was feeling after the game, there was no way I was going to play. Kind of just woke up and felt pretty good, felt decent. My stomach was feeling a lot better, but I didn’t have much energy, I was super lethargic. And then I kind of started doing my routine, I was pretending as if I was going to play. Didn’t eat much and started going through it. Started to get some energy, and then around 3:30, 4:00 – right around the 24-hour mark – is when I started to feel like a human again. Started to feel a bit more normal. Luckily I took warmups and was able to go. And got some energy back and was able to play.”

It was the second three-assist game of the campaign for Perfetti, who is up to six goals and 25 points in 38 games this season. This places him third in NHL rookie scoring behind Matty Beniers of the Seattle Kraken and Mason MacTavish of the Anaheim Ducks.

“He’s been great for us. For a young guy stepping in playing top line, top minutes, he’s such a cerebral player,” said defenceman Dylan DeMelo, who chipped in a pair of assists. “For his size to get around, he gets inside and knows the game very well. His brain and his smarts are his best feature. I think he’s continuing to get better each and every night.

“He’s doing a great job of holding onto pucks, making plays and not being shy to make plays. Sometimes you can defer to guys like (Mark Scheifele) and (Blake Wheeler), but he’s done a good job on his own making plays. You’ve seen on this road trip that he’s done a good job of doing that. He’s really defensively responsible for a young guy coming into the league. He’s super cerebral, super smart, and he’s having a great year for us so far.”

The victory put an exclamation point on the end of this three-game road trip and gave the Jets seven victories in the past eight games. Winnipeg improved to a 28-14-1 record and moved back into a first-place tie in the Central Division with the Dallas Stars.

“That was probably one of the best games we played all year, it really was, in terms of how we wanted to play and how to be successful going forward. There were no passengers,” said Jets head coach Rick Bowness. “Everyone contributed. Everyone did the job they were asked to do. Give the players full marks for responding. They weren’t happy, even though we won the game last night, they weren’t happy with the way we played. That’s the most important thing.”

After relying heavily on goalie Connor Hellebuyck in Thursday’s 4-2 win over the Sabres, the Jets got back to an emphasis on defensive structure, limiting the Penguins to just 23 shots.

“Mindset. It’s honestly just a mindset for us. When we’re willing to buy in and play that way, we’re a tough team to beat,” said DeMelo. “It’s quite evident. When we all buy in and play that type of style, a style we think is going to win later on in this season and hopefully in the playoffs, that’s a tough style to go up against. We know what it’s like going up against teams like that. If we can continue to do that day in and day out, we’re going to do a real good job here.”

Jets left-winger Kyle Connor extended his point streak to nine games with an assist, giving him six goals and nine assists for 15 points during that span, while backup goalie David Rittich improved to 7-4 by delivering another steady effort between the pipes.

The Jets not only survived two disallowed goals in the first period, they found a way to quickly put it behind them, taking control of the contest with a pair of quick strikes late in the second period from Scheifele and Nikolaj Ehlers, the latter is up to eight points in five games since returning from sports hernia surgery.

The first disallowed goal was the result of a coach’s challenge for offside. The second was ruled goalie interference on Pierre-Luc Dubois and upheld after the Jets used a coach’s challenge on the play to try and get it overturned.

“Sometimes they go your way, sometimes they don’t. The most important thing is the next shift. Don’t worry about what went on,” said Bowness. “We moved forward from it. We’re on the bench talking, no matter what happens we get ready for the next shift and we move on.

It all depends what camera angle you look at. They saw that it looked pretty adamant that he was pushed in.

“Goalie interference is the toughest one. You never know which way it’s going to go. Offside is pretty black and white. Goaltender interference isn’t. You have to stick up for your players too. If they’re doing everything you ask them to do, and you think they’re in the right, you have to challenge it. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work.”

The Jets finished the road trip 2-1 and return home to face the Arizona Coyotes on Sunday before heading back out for a season-long five-game road trip.

Scheifele scored twice and is up to 27 goals on the season, which puts him back on pace to exceed 40 goals for the first time in his career and challenge the 50-goal plateau.

“Well, he is an elite passer and playmaker, but you always kind of think that’s his go-to, his playmaking. But what he’s doing this year and being able to play with and seeing first-hand from him the goal-scoring ability that he has, it’s eye-opening,” said Perfetti. “It all comes down to how smart he is, getting to the open ice, finding where to go. It’s pretty special playing with a guy like that.”

Blake Wheeler opened the scoring and also had a beautiful set-up on Scheifele’s second goal of the contest, giving the trio a total of seven points as they had a second excellent showing this week.

“For our line, that was way more of a template of how we play,” said Scheifele. “We're good in the o-zone when we get rolling around and obviously, me and Wheels are big bodies and when Cole goes to the right spots, good things can happen.

“(That) was a good example and I think we can always look back at that one and remember that that's how our game should look.”