Zach Hyman found himself on the outside looking in on Team Canada’s initial roster for the 4 Nations Face-Off when the rosters were announced Wednesday.

A little over 24 hours later on Thursday night, he showed their front office they may have made a mistake, scoring a pair of goals en route to a 6-3 Edmonton Oilers win over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

“I had a lot of looks tonight — some went in, some didn’t — that’s hockey. You just go out there, you play, and at the end of the year it usually adds up.”

It’s a definite 180-degree reversal from what Hyman was going through earlier this season, having scored just three goals in his first 20 games of the season, all of which coming in separate games. Hyman was still dominant early this year before suffering an injury on Nov. 19th against the Ottawa Senators, generating boatloads of scoring chances, but not getting any of the puck luck coming his way.

That changed on Thursday.

His first goal came just under 10 minutes into the game when Connor McDavid grabbed a puck in the offensive zone, made a ridiculous move around a pair of stumbling Blue Jackets, and feeding Hyman for a one-timer. Goal number two came just over seven minutes into the second period, once again getting to a good spot, cashing in on a great feed from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. They were two of five shots he took, arguably looking even better than he did before his five-game hiatus.

Hyman said the key to coming back fresh — beyond healing from his injury — was a lot of time with goalie coach Dustin Schwartz.

“When you’re not playing, teams away, you’re just kind of getting the scraps out there early with the goalies or you’re hanging out after morning skate,” he said. “(I) just tried to stay in shape and then, you know, the benefit is you can work on your touches. In practice and when you’re playing, there’s not as much time, but when you’re not, you’re kind of by yourself or with one other guy, or just the goalie and you get a lot of reps.”

Hyman’s goals were big ones for the Oilers. His first came with the Oilers already down 1-0, as Kevin Labanc scored just 2:31 into the game, while his second helped the team extend its lead to 4-1. Hyman’s return was certainly welcomed.

“It’s nice having Zach back,” said Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch after the game. “I was just thinking our previous game where we couldn’t score a goal, and maybe he could’ve made a difference. It’s nice he took the extra time and he’s healthy and he’s ready to contribute. He looked good in practice leading up to this, and just having that guy who can put the puck in the net is key for us.”

No. 18 on the ice wasn’t the only Oilers player to have a big night, though. McDavid racked up four assists, while Leon Draisaitl added a pair of goals — one of which on the power play which saw him become the first player in Oilers history, and the 56th in league history, to score 150 goals with the man advantage.

The Oilers will have a chance to cook at home for almost all of December, with eight of their remaining 11 games this month coming on home ice. Next up? Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway make their return to Edmonton Saturday night for an 8:00 p.m. MST puckdrop.

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.

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