Zach Hyman called out Alex Edler during the second intermission of the Edmonton Oilers’ game with the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday night.
Early in the second period, Connor McDavid was trying to break the puck into the Kings’ zone and Edler stepped up from the blueline and hit McDavid while leading with his knee…
McDavid fell to the ice and Darnell Nurse stepped in and dropped the gloves with Edler. The refs called Edler for a two-minute kneeing minor but it was offset by Nurse being given two roughing minors.
McDavid himself took exception to the hit, as he cross-checked Edler in Los Angeles’ zone later in the period. The refs called McDavid for a two-minute minor on the play.
During the second intermission, Sportsnet’s Gene Principe asked Zach Hyman about the team’s reaction to McDavid taking a knee from Edler. Hyman criticized Edler for making “an extremely dangerous play” and mentioned how Edler made the same hit on him two years ago…
The play that Hyman is referencing in this interview came in April of 2021 when he was with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Edler was with the Vancouver Canucks. Hyman was skating the puck into Vancouver’s zone and Edler pinched in and drilled him with a knee-on-knee hit.
Hyman left the game with an injury and didn’t return to Toronto’s lineup until Game 1 of their first-round series with the Montreal Canadiens over a month later. Edler wound up getting a two-game suspension.