Cole Perfetti is on the board in his fifth NHL game.
The 20-year-old forward scored his first National Hockey League goal early in the first period of the Winnipeg Jets’ game against the Washington Capitals on Tuesday.
Kyle Connor opened the scoring for Winnipeg just 1:02 into regulation time, setting the stage for Perfetti to give the Jets some insurance just over a minute later.
Pierre-Luc Dubois started the play from the left side of the offensive zone, entering with the puck on an abbreviated two-on-one rush. With Dennis Cholowski the last man back and Connor McMichael sprinting to try and help out, Dubois quickly fired a pass over to a streaking Perfetti on the right side.
Perfetti receive the puck cleanly and fired it over Vitek Vanecek’s glove for his first NHL goal and point.
Connor picked up the secondary assist on Perfetti’s first goal as a Jet, which put his team up 2–0 at the 2:20 mark of the opening frame.
In his first 17 American Hockey League games this year with the Manitoba Moose, Perfetti scored six goals and 15 points. With Perfetti now playing alongside Connor and Dubois in the Jets’ top six, it’s appearing increasingly unlikely that he’ll return to the AHL this year.
The Jets currently lead the Capitals by the same 2–0 score with less than six minutes remaining in the first period.
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