It was only a matter of time before Zach Hyman started scoring goals.
After all, that’s exactly what the numbers said after his first 10 games of the season saw him goalless. Hyman generated 5.72 individual expected goals over that — a metric used to quantify the quality of shots and scoring chances a player or team has — according to Natural Stat Trick, but he just couldn’t find a way to get them into the net.
It was the second-highest number in the league up to that point, and other numbers such as his scoring chance, shot and shot attempt rates were all in line with what he produced last year when he scored a career high 54 goals, the second-most in the entire NHL.
The dam was going to burst sooner, rather than later, and after finding twine on Thursday night against Nashville, he followed it up with a game-winning goal against the Calgary Flames on Sunday night, helping secure a 4-2 win.
“I think I’ve proven I can score in this league,” Hyman said after the win. “I was getting a lot of chances in the first 10 games, it just didn’t fall for me. Nice to score a big one tonight, and score a goal in a crucial moment to help us win.”
His tally couldn’t have come at a better time, either. While the Oilers built up a 2-0 lead, thanks to first period goals from Leon Draisaitl, who scored on the first shift of the game, and Jeff Skinner eight minutes later, that had dwindled. Anthony Mantha tipped home a questionably high shot on the power play in the second period, while a seeing-eye wrist shot from the point by Yegor Sharangovich tied it up at two all.
But halfway through the third, Flames winger Martin Pospisill got his stick up on Mattias Ekholm, giving the Oilers a man advantage. Calgary cleared the puck from the zone, but Draisaitl fed Ryan Nugent-Hopkins across the blue line, streaking to the far side of the ice, as Hyman barreled towards the Flames net. A tape-to-tape pass later, and Hyman was all alone, faking to the backhand and roofing it past a helpless Dan Vladar.
Two games after being goalless, Hyman now has a pair, as do the Oilers have in victories without Connor McDavid. They’ve managed to find ways to elevate their game, something goaltender Stuart Skinner — who turned aside 29 of 31 shots — said has become the new norm for the team.
“I think in the past years, there’s been moments where it’s easy to let that game slip,” he said. “It’s so easy in the NHL. You let off the gas pedal for two seconds and it’s in the back of your net.
“I think this group, especially from where we came last year, obviously where we wanted to go the previous years, it’s all experience to help you out, and I think it’s been very helpful for us in just the sense of being able to finish the game.”
Life without McDavid has gone as well as the Oilers could’ve hoped so far, as we’ve buried the lede a bit not mentioning how Draisaitl had a second consecutive three-point night, now helping account for six of nine goals scored in the last two games. He’s firing on all cylinders, a great thing for the Oilers and dangerous for everyone else, as there’s reason to believe more goals will be coming Hyman’s way, too.
Hyman’s shooting percentage over the three previous years has been 15 percent, a far cry from the 5.9 he’s shooting so far this season. If, for example, his previous average were applied to the shots he’s taken this season, he’d already have five goals on the year.
Edmonton’s McDavid-less stretch continues late tonight, as the Oilers host the New Jersey Devils for a 6:30 p.m. puckdrop on Amazon Prime.
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.
