It hasn’t been smooth sailing for Viktor Arvidsson since he signed with the Edmonton Oilers last summer.
He entered the season pencilled in on the second line alongside Leon Draisaitl, but after failing to register a point by the fourth game of the season as the team sputtered to a 1-3-0 start, Arvidsson was bumped down the lineup. He would work his way back up, but it was short-lived as a lower-body injury would force the skilled forward into the press box.
Arvidsson returned Thursday night against the Boston Bruins on Edmonton’s third line and he played there again on Saturday when the team hosted the San Jose Sharks. But when Ryan Nugent-Hopkins came down with an illness ahead of the Oilers’ Sunday night game with the Ottawa Senators, he flew up the depth chart, slotting beside Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman on the top line.
Opportunity is everything in the world of sports, and Arvidsson seized it with a one-goal, two-point performance en route to a 3-1 win for the Oilers.
His goal was the first of the game when the Oilers were cycling the puck in the offensive zone. With all eyes on Connor McDavid in the corner, Arvidsson was able to sneak behind two Senators defenders to the back door, burying a pass from the Oilers captain.
“I just tried to hit it as hard as I can in the net,” he said with a smile after the game.
And while the Senators got on the board just under 30 seconds into the second period when Evan Bouchard coughed up a puck to Nick Cousins, who capitalized on a breakaway, the Oilers got back to work. It would capitalize with Arvidsson setting up Zach Hyman in front of the net on the power play.
“He put it in the back of the net, that was nice, (and) made some nice plays,” head coach Kris Knoblauch said of Arvidsson after the game. “He’s a top-six player. He’s been typically a guy that produces, can play with top talent, and this weekend playing three-in-four, we didn’t want to overuse him.He played the first game, majority on the fourth line, moved up to the second line in the second game, and with the illness to Nuge, he can certainly fill in that role.”
His night was just what the Oilers needed, as the team would stall the Senators and Adam Henrique’s goal a minute and a half into the third more than sealed the win.
The Oilers now enter the Christmas break on nothing short of a tear. Over the last calendar month, they’ve gone 11-2-0, the best such record in the league, with a .846 points percentage standing tall over the second placed Vegas Golden Knights (.808) and Washington Capitals and Utah Hockey Club, both with a .750.
Edmonton’s dominance at five-on-five has been a key, outscoring their opposition 34-20, while their special teams have found their stride, too. They’ve had the sixth best power play, converting on 29.4 percent of their chances, while penalty kill has killed off 85.2 percent of the penalties the team has taken.
And over the last week, they’ve found ways to win games in different ways.
“I think our team just shows so much maturity and patience through our game,” said Knoblauch. “Maturity, resilience — they’ve been through a lot. From what I saw from last year, they’re able to handle the ups and downs whether it was a referee making a bad call, the other team making a strong push or getting a timely goal, I think they’ve been staying focused.“You look at how these last three games have gone, they’ve gone completely different. Tonight we had a lead for most of the game, and we didn’t waver how we played. The Boston game wasn’t our best, but we found a way to get back into that game doing the little things. And then the San Jose game, where we had pretty much every opportunity to score and carried the play, a lot of time in the offensive zone. Obviously we’d like to have scored more goals, but we didn’t get frustrated. We stuck with the plan and were able to score a goal late.”
Edmonton’s run has vaulted them back into a playoff spot, and just three points back of the Golden Knights for the top spot in the Pacific Divison, and five points back of the top spot in the Western Conference and the NHL as a whole.
Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist, making up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.
