Cole Perfetti Drives Winnipeg’s best looks in the opener
Perfetti piles up quality chances and a power-play helper while the team seeks its first win of the season.
The Jets left their first game with only a point, but Cole Perfetti left a calling card: he was at the heart of Winnipeg’s best looks.
He set up a power-play finish for his lone point and fired four shots in 17.1 minutes. The puck didn’t go in for him — his shooting percentage sits at 0 — but the danger in his chances says this wasn’t about timid offense.
Start with the quality of what he generated. Perfetti’s individual expected goals — the value of his own chances — came in at 1.03 (expected goals), strong goal-scoring territory for a single night. That’s the kind of shot mix that usually pays off over time. Add in the on-ice picture: when he was out there, Winnipeg’s expected goals share — how much of the chance quality the Jets owned — was a towering 83.5%. In plain terms, his line produced most of the dangerous looks while allowing very little the other way.
The chance ledger backs it up. With Perfetti on the ice, Winnipeg created 13 high-danger chances and allowed only 3, an 81.3% share of the most threatening opportunities. That’s not noise you see every night. It points to strong offensive positioning and support play that kept the puck in good areas. The payoff was visible on special teams too: he logged 3.5 minutes on the man advantage and picked up a power-play point, part of the early blueprint for how Winnipeg wants to use him.
What’s real and what’s luck after one game? The real part is the process: the volume and grade of looks around Perfetti. His on-ice expected goals tilted heavily toward Winnipeg (2.63 expected goals for to 0.52 expected goals against), and his own shot quality supports the eye test of a player finding prime areas. The luck — or lack of finish — is the empty shooting line. With that much expected value, zero goals won’t stick if he keeps getting to those spots.
Context matters. The Jets are 0-0-1 after a 4–3 overtime loss, sitting sixth in the Central and still in the wildcard spot. Perfetti posting this kind of chance profile while adding touches on the power play is exactly the kind of early-season signal a team wants as it looks to turn competitive nights into wins. If he keeps pairing high-quality looks with steady usage, the points column should catch up fast.