Missed games due to injury mean the Predators' forward is not among the NHL's top 10 in actual goals, though

Tuesday’s game between the Nashville Predators and Washington Capitals was not a matchup of the NHL’s top two goal scorers.

It might have been had Viktor Arvidsson not missed half the season to date with a pair of injures. Recently, though, the diminutive forward, who missed 24 of 25 games beginning in early November, has made up for lost time, particularly against the Capitals.

His second career hat trick (on a game-high six shots) gave him nine goals in his last nine games and put him on a pace that only the league’s top scorer — Washington’s Alex Ovechkin — can match.

Following the Predators’ 7-2 victory before another sellout crowd at Bridgestone Arena, Arvidsson is averaging 0.71 goals per game, which is second among all players who have appeared in at least 15 games this season. He trails only Ovechkin (0.72), who leads the NHL with 33 goals scored.

Arvidsson’s 17 goals are second on the team to the total of linemate Filip Forsberg, who has 18 and has missed time with an injury of his own. Forty-seven players across the league, however, have scored more often.



“I’ve been feeling better and better and getting into that groove of the games every other day,” Arvidsson said. “Just to be back for another three weeks, it feels better and better. We’re starting to get that chemistry back. I feel like we played great (Tuesday) and really found each other.”

At the start of the night, Arvidsson was one of eight players who had appeared in at least 20 games this season averaging better than .60 goals per game.

Six of the other seven were the leagues top six goal scorers for the season led by Ovechkin, (0.73 per game), who did not score against Nashville. The others were: Buffalo’s Jeff Skinner, 30 goals (0.65 per game); Toronto’s John Tavares, 29 goals (0.64 per game); Tampa Bay’s Brayden Point, 29 goals (0.63 per game); Edmonton’s Connor McDavid, 28 goals (0.62 per game); and Colorado’s Gabriel Landeskog, 28 goals (0.61 per game).

The franchise record for goals-per-game average in a season (minimum of half the games played) is 0.51 by Jason Arnott in 2008-09, when he scored 33 times in 65 games. Arvidsson is now well ahead of that pace.

A rundown of the highest single-season goals-per-game averages in Nashville Predators’ history (minimum 50 percent of the games played):

Player, season

Goals/game

Games

Goals

Jason Arnott, 2008-09

0.51

65

33

Steve Sullivan, 2005-06

0.45

69

31

Filip Forsberg, 2015-16

0.40

82

33

Jason Arnott, 2006-07

0.40

68

27



Additionally, Arvidsson has scored on 21.4 percent of his shots this season. The franchise record for shooting percentage in a full season (minimum 50 games played) is 24.7 by Sergei Kositsyn in 2010-11, when he scored 23 times on 93 shots.

Among this season’s top 10 goal scorers (all have 26 or more), only Point, at 23.6, converts more of his chances.

“(Arvidsson) just plays so hard and throws his body on the line every night,” center Nick Bonino said. “You can always get behind guys like that. He scores so often so it is fun seeing a smile come down the line. He made some big goals (Tuesday) night.”



