The Nashville Predators came into Tuesday as a team slightly struggling.
They had only won four of their past 10 games and the injury to Filip Forsberg had affected the likes of Ryan Johansen and Viktor Arvidsson to the tune of just three goals in their past 11 games.
Arvidsson got his game back on track on Tuesday, however, grabbing the game-winner and assisting on the Nashville’s first goal of the game in a hard-fought 2-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on NBCSN.
Viktor Arvidsson had his hand in both of the Predators’ first-period goals.
Arvidsson made the perfect screen in front of Cam Talbot, allowing the rebound off P.K. Subban’s point blast to squirt back out in front, where Craig Smith deposited behind Talbot for a 1-0 lead.
]
Arvidsson picked up his second point of the period just over seven minutes later.
And it came from Arvidsson lurking around the net once again, and a little luck.
Roman Josi’s point shot was stopped by Talbot left arm, but the rebound smacked Adam Larsson in the face and dropped to the stick of Arvidsson, who needed just a tap to put the puck across the goal line.
The Oilers awoke from their slumber in the second period, and the pushback produced an immediate result.
McDavid took a pass at the Nashville blue line and then did what McDavid is known for, getting by Mattias Ekholm with relative ease with his first step and then scoring low to cut Nashville’s lead in half.
The Oilers gave a valiant effort after the first period, and poured on the pressure with the net empty, but it was much ado about nothing as the game clock read zeroes.
Another tick in the loss column for perhaps the most disappointing team through the first half of the season.
Scott Billeck is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @scottbilleck