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NHL Game-Winning Goals Leaders: Ottawa Senators
2017-18All situationsThrough 82 team games
Mike Hoffman (OTT) leads NHL skaters with 5 GWG for the Ottawa Senators in 2017-18, ahead of 
Matt Duchene (OTT/COL) (3).
Leaders: Game-Winning Goals, Ottawa Senators, 2017-18
- 1stMike HoffmanOTT · 82 GP5
2ndMatt DucheneOTT/COL · 82 GP3
3rdDerick BrassardOTT/PIT · 72 GP3
4thMark StoneOTT · 58 GP3
5thTom PyattOTT · 81 GP2
The full ranked table, with filters, follows.
What Game-Winning Goals measures
This board ranks every NHL skater by game-winning goals, regular season only, listing players with at least one. Pick any season back to 2017-18 above the table. Goals that were the winning team's (loser's final score + 1)th goal, shootouts excluded.
Game-winning goals are goals plus timing luck: year-to-year correlation is weak (about 0.1 beyond what goals explain).
The game-winning goal is the winning team's goal that put it one ahead of the loser's final total: in a 5-2 win, the third goal. Shootout winners do not count. GWG mostly follows goals: the best scorers on the best teams pile them up. Season to season the total has almost no skill signal beyond goal scoring. In 2017-18, 14 skaters qualify for this board; the median is 2 and Mike Hoffman leads at 5.
Game-Winning Goals leaderboard
| # | Player | Team | GWG | GP | Per game | G | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mike HoffmanFOTT | OTT | 5 | 82 | 0.06 | 22 | — |
| 2 | Matt DucheneFOTT/COL | OTT/COL | 3 | 82 | 0.04 | 27 | 51%▼4.9 |
| 3 | Derick BrassardFOTT/PIT | OTT/PIT | 3 | 72 | 0.04 | 21 | — |
| 4 | Mark StoneFOTT | OTT | 3 | 58 | 0.05 | 20 | 96%▲1.2 |
| 5 | Tom PyattFOTT | OTT | 2 | 81 | 0.02 | 7 | — |
| 6 |  Ryan DzingelFOTT | OTT | 2 | 79 | 0.03 | 23 | — |
| 7 |  Jean-Gabriel PageauFOTT | OTT | 2 | 78 | 0.03 | 14 | 13%▲1.8 |
| 8 |  Alexandre BurrowsFOTT | OTT | 2 | 71 | 0.03 | 6 | — |
| 9 |  Erik KarlssonDOTT | OTT | 2 | 71 | 0.03 | 9 | 95% |
| 10 |  Cody CeciDOTT | OTT | 1 | 82 | 0.01 | 5 | 0.2% |
| 11 |  Zack SmithFOTT | OTT | 1 | 68 | 0.01 | 5 | — |
| 12 |  Nicholas ShoreFLAK/CGY/OTT | LAK/CGY/OTT | 1 | 64 | 0.02 | 5 | — |
| 13 |  Bobby RyanFOTT | OTT | 1 | 62 | 0.02 | 11 | — |
| 14 |  Colin WhiteFOTT | OTT | 1 | 21 | 0.05 | 2 | 0.0% |
Frequently asked questions
Who leads the NHL in Game-Winning Goals in 2017-18?
Mike Hoffman leads with 5. The median of the 14 qualified skaters is 2.
Which defenseman leads in Game-Winning Goals in 2017-18?
Erik Karlsson leads NHL defensemen with 2; the top forward is Mike Hoffman at 5.
How is Game-Winning Goals calculated?
Goals that were the winning team's (loser's final score + 1)th goal, shootouts excluded. Regular season only, from the NHL's official game data.
How reliable is Game-Winning Goals?
Game-winning goals are goals plus timing luck: year-to-year correlation is weak (about 0.1 beyond what goals explain).