GDB Wrap Up 23.0: The winning streak reaches five games as Edmonton hammers Carolina
7 months ago
The Oilers are so back, baby.
Edmonton hosted the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday, defeating their 2006 Stanley Cup Final rivals by a score of 6-1. This brings their winning streak to a season-high five games and it pushes their record to 10-12-1.
Let’s take a look at the Oilersnation’s Player of the Game, as well as things worth mentioning.
THE RECAP IS PRESENTED BY BETWAY
Oilersnation’s Player of the Game…
Could it be anyone else? Zach Hyman scored three goals for his second hat trick of the season.
The first goal came on a strong move to the net and snuck it past the Canes’ goaltender via the five-hole and the second came on a rush where the defence left him all alone, giving him plenty of time to one-time it in past the Canes’ netminder. The third goal was all Connor McDavid, as he stripped a Cane’s player at the blue line, made a sick move past another defender, and slid a pass over to Hyman for his hat trick goal.
Hyman now has 15 goals and 26 points on the season, which puts him on pace to surpass the 36 goals and 83 points that he scored when he set career-highs in both categories last season. What a great contract this has turned out to be.
Things worth mentioning…
Ryan McLeod went goalless in his previous 38 games before scoring an empty netter in Edmonton’s last game. It took him less than 30 seconds to score his second of the season on a sick Warren Foegele dish. Speaking of Foegele, the former Hurricane scored against his former team, burying a breakaway opportunity after a blocked shot.
Mattias Janmark had himself a game, picking up three assists, which surpassed his season total in points heading into this game. When he’s healthy, he’s a great penalty killer and a good depth scorer in the bottom six.
Connor McDavid also had three assists on Wednesday, bringing his season total to 32 points in 21 games. He’s tied for 10th in points now, but he has 16 points over his last five games. He’s the best player to ever lace up a pair of skates.
Stuart Skinner had a sneakily strong game, saving 38 of 39 shots for a .974 save percentage. Over his last 10 games, he’s 8-2-0 and has a .916 save percentage (up from .905 coming into this game). His season save percentage now sits at .889, but slowly, it’s climbing.
Mattias Ekholm was not great to start the season. This was due in large part because he missed six weeks with an injury, also missing all of preseason. However, he’s really rounded back into form in Edmonton’s last 12 games or so. He scored his fourth goal of the season on Wednesday, and has three goals in his last six games. Ekholm is starting to look like the defenceman they traded for at last season’s deadline.
Thankfully, we don’t have to wait another six days for the Oilers to play, as they’ll be back in action on Friday against the Minnesota Wild. Edmonton now has 21 points on the season, just six points behind the last wild-card team.
Just. Keep. Winning.
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