Arvidsson's Birthday Hat Trick Leads Preds to Victory in Detroit

Happy birthday, Viktor Arvidsson.
On the day he turned 28, the Predators winger recorded his third-career hat trick, and Nashville scored seven against the Red Wings for the second time this season to defeat Detroit by a 7-1 final on Thursday night at Little Caesars Arena.
The result gives the Preds wins in six of eight tries against the Wings to finish the season series and victories in 11 of their last 13 overall outings to continue their hold on the fourth spot in the Central Division.
After Detroit got the game's first goal, Nashville tallied seven unanswered, and Arvidsson finished off his hat trick when he converted on a penalty shot in the third period en route to registering quite an outing for him and his hockey club.

"Oh absolutely, it was awesome; it's up there for birthdays, I guess," Arvidsson said of the occasion. "We played well…and we worked really hard and got rewarded for it."
"I feel like we're a pretty confident group right now, and we're on a mission," Preds forward Erik Haula said. "We have a lot of guys who have had playoff tastes, and I feel like we know that we have a good group, and now it's just kind of putting the product on the ice. We can be proud of how we've stepped up and played lately. We've got 15 games to go, and we've got to keep the pedal down. It's a tight race all the way to the end, but you've got to give kudos to all the guys stepping in. We have a lot of first this year and a lot of young guys, and they're all stepping in and playing well and contributing, so it's been awesome to watch."

After a goalless opening 20 minutes, Detroit took the first lead of the game when Darren Helm deflected a shot past Juuse Saros fewer than two minutes into the second stanza.

Just 40 seconds later, Arvidsson got a bounce in front off a Detroit defender to even the score at 1-1, and fewer than four minutes after that, Haula beat Jonathan Bernier with a backhand to put the Predators up for the first time.
Midway through the frame, Mathieu Olivier was assessed a minor for instigating, a major for fighting and a 10-minute misconduct after defending his teammate, Matt Benning, who was boarded by Detroit forward Adam Erne. After Erne's penalty was reduced from a major to a minor for boarding, Preds Head Coach John Hynes was also assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. But the Predators eagerly killed off that minor and carried the momentum into a third goal before the frame was out, as Colton Sissons found Nick Cousins to give Nashville a 3-1 lead through two periods.

"One, I was thankful that the PK stepped up and did a good job and killed it," Hynes said. "It was a situation in tonight's game where I thought there were some calls early in the game that didn't get called to get us on the power play, and you hate to see one of your players go in the way that [Benning] did. I mean, we have had a ton of injuries, but not only a ton of injuries, I mean that was a dangerous hit. Sometimes, you've got to stick up for your team and stick up for your group, but I think at the end of the day, the guys stepped up and killed the penalty and we found a way to increase the lead in the game. That's the most important thing."

The Predators kept pressing in the third, and they added four more markers before the game was out. Mikael Granlund got Nashville's fourth of the night, and after Arvidsson went five-hole to finish off a 2-on-1 for his second, he beat Bernier one more time on a penalty shot to complete the hat trick. Yakov Trenin added one more before the night was done - because, why not - and not to be lost in the offensive outburst was another solid effort from Saros who stopped 25 shots to earn his 13th win of the campaign.
But the birthday boy was the star of the night, and it was an outing that ended quite an eventful stretch for Arvidsson. He became a father for the first time just over a week ago, and on Saturday at Bridgestone Arena, he suffered an upper-body injury. After missing Tuesday's game, he returned on Thursday to score three goals and become the latest Preds player to step up and get his team one win closer to an extended schedule come May.

"The thing that happened in the Chicago game wasn't fun, and it wasn't that bad as it looked and I kind of recovered faster than I thought," Arvidsson said. "And just having a baby too, it was the best moment of my life, and it's been eventful. Having a birthday today and score a hat trick, it's awesome."
"Arv was flying tonight," Hynes said. "When he's good, it's always speed, tenacious, he's hungry on the puck, he's finding ways to get to the back of the net, but he's also playing the game the right way. His shot selection is good, he's working without the puck, he's responsible defensively, and that's the type of game that we need from him. It was nice to see him come back and a great birthday for him obviously coming back off the injury, but he was hungry. I give him a lot of credit. He comes off the injury, didn't feel good, he was in for treatment the other morning of the game day, I think he was on the staff bus over to the rink really early, he put some work in to get himself ready to play for tonight's game and it's good to see."
With Eeli Tolvanen and Dante Fabbro out due to injury on Thursday night, Hynes elected to dress 11 forwards and seven defensemen with defenseman David Farrance making his NHL debut and fellow blueliner Tyler Lewington making his Predators debut in his ninth NHL game.
Both Arvidsson and Haula credited the performances of the newcomers as notable efforts to help contribute to the victory, and just as they've done in 11 tries over their past 13 outings, the Predators found a way to win the night.
And on this occasion, they made a seven-goal statement to boot.
"We're a confident group, and we have a lot of pride and we figured out the way that we need to play as a team to be successful," Haula said. "I don't think we can look ahead [to the playoffs]. It's a tight race, we've got teams right behind us and we're going to see those teams. Every night counts, every game is a huge game and our goal is just to get two points, take one game at a time and keep moving forward here."
"The identity that you have to have to win, you can't be a mentally weak team, a physically weak team if you're going to have any success," Hynes said. "We've continued to try to work with that, hammer it home and show some examples and give guys the opportunity to showcase that, and we have. I think when you look at any team that has success, you have to be mentally and physically tough. You have to be able to get through adversity in pro sports, and our guys are doing a good job with a no-excuse mentality. That's what we need to continue here down the stretch."

Notes:
Via NHL PR, Viktor Arvidsson became the first player in Predators franchise history to complete a hat trick with a penalty-shot goal and just the third player in the last 10 years to do so, joining Noel Acciari (Dec. 20, 2019, with Florida) and Sam Steel (March 26, 2019, with Anaheim).
Colton Sissons recorded his 100th career point with an assist on Nick Cousins's goal in the second period.
Preds defenseman David Farrance made his NHL debut on Thursday night in Detroit and logged 12:46 of ice time with one shot, one hit, one blocked shot and a plus-1 rating.
The Predators were without forward Eeli Tolvanen (lower-body) and defenseman Dante Fabbro (upper-body) on Thursday night in Detroit, among many others.
The Preds will head back to Nashville for a three-game homestand that begins with a back-to-back weekend with a meeting against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday before a Sunday evening tilt against the Dallas Stars.
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The Predators will start a three-game homestand at Bridgestone Arena this weekend. Tickets are available for Sunday's contest against the Stars (at 7 p.m. CT) and Tuesday's game against the Lightning (at 7 p.m.). For this season only, fans are also able to add Lexus Lounge access to their tickets to enjoy a premium unlimited buffet and beverages. To purchase your tickets, visit NashvillePredators.com/tickets.