Zach Hyman had a strong return to the ice, scoring two goals to lead the Edmonton Oilers to a 6-3 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday.
Hyman had missed the Oilers’ last five games because of an injury. Before that, he was struggling, with only three goals in the first 20 games, despite scoring 54 goals last season.
Along with Hyman, other key players for the Oilers contributed to the win. Leon Draisaitl scored twice, tying Florida’s Sam Reinhart for the most goals in the league with 19, while Connor McDavid had a season-high four assists. Jeff Skinner had a goal and an assist, and Evan Bouchard, Adam Henrique, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins each assisted on two goals.
Kevin Labanc gave Columbus an early lead, scoring just 2:31 into the game. Hyman’s first goal tied the game midway through the period.
Edmonton took control in the second period, scoring four goals. Draisaitl put the Oilers ahead with 17:38 remaining, assisted by Bouchard and McDavid. A failed Blue Jackets challenge led to a delay-of-game penalty, which Mattias Ekholm took advantage of with a power-play goal, making it 2-1.
Columbus has allowed a power-play goal in 11 consecutive games.
Hyman made it 4-1 less than three minutes later, with assists from McDavid and Nugent-Hopkins.
Damon Severson and Cole Sillinger scored for Columbus.
Edmonton, which went 2-for-5 on the power play, took 37 shots, while Columbus had just 22.
Oilers goalie Calvin Pickard made 19 saves, and Columbus’ Daniil Tarasov, playing for the first time since November 16, stopped 31 shots.
McDavid now has 49 regular season games with three or more assists and holds the record for most four-assist games among active players.
Additionally, McDavid became just the fourth player in NHL history to record 120 assists in a calendar year, including the postseason. Wayne Gretzky did this 11 times, and Adam Oates and Mario Lemieux did it once each.
