It took longer than anyone expected, but Zach Hyman has scored his first goal of the year.

It came Thursday night against the Nashville Predators, a game in which was the Oilers’ first without their captain, Connor McDavid, sidelined due to an ankle injury.

Hyman’s goal came late in the game, with just over seven minutes left, in fact, when Darnell Nurse sprung him with a long tape-to-tape breakaway pass. Hyman would burst into the Predators zone, faking to the backhand, before putting on the brakes and firing over the shoulder of Juuse Saros.

Heading into the game, Hyman had been the unluckiest player in the league, accumulating 5.72 individual expected goals through his first 10 games, failing to find the back of the net. In fact, he had 2.99 more than the next goalless player, Dylan Cozens, who ranked 111th in individual expected goals ahead of Thursday’s games.

For Hyman, it was undoubtedly a strange time, doubly so considering he racked up a career-high 54 goals last season, and another 16 in the playoffs. That mark had him just three short of tying the NHL record for most goals by a player in a single post-season, and four off from breaking it.

Even though the goal came late in the game, getting off the schneid will be huge for not just Hyman, but the Oilers as a whole. With McDavid injured, Viktor Arvidsson got his first of the season Thursday, Corey Perry had his second, while Leon Draisaitl added his seventh and eighth. It all resulted in the Oilers beating the Predators 5-1, McDavid’s injury will keep him on the shelf for two-to-three weeks, so having players up and down the lineup contributing goals will be key.

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.