Zach Hyman made the most of his return to the ice, scoring twice to lead the Edmonton Oilers past the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets 6-3 on Thursday.
The left wing missed the Oilers’ last five games due to an unspecified injury. Even before missing time, the 32-year-old, who scored 54 goals last season, was battling through a slump, with just three goals through 20 games.
The Oilers’ top weapons joined Hyman in the scoring barrage. Leon Draisaitl also scored twice to tie Florida’s Sam Reinhart for the league lead with 19 goals, and Connor McDavid had a season-high four assists. Jeff Skinner finished with a goal and an assist, and Evan Bouchard, Adam Henrique and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins assisted on two goals apiece.
Kevin Labanc gave Columbus an early lead, scoring just 2:31 into the game. Hyman’s first goal came midway through the period to tie the game.
Edmonton took command with a four-goal second period. It started with Leon Draisaitl scoring the go-ahead goal with 17:38 left, set up by Bouchard and McDavid.
A failed Blue Jackets challenge on the goal resulted in a delay-of-game penalty. Mattias Ekholm capitalized on the power play by following up on a missed shot to put in the rebound with 15:58 to go.
Columbus has allowed power-play goals in 11 straight games.
Hyman made it 4-1 less than three minutes later, with assists from McDavid and Nugent-Hopkins.
Damon Severson and Cole Sillinger also scored for Columbus.
Edmonton, which went 2-for-5 on the power play, recorded 37 shots and held Columbus to just 22.
Edmonton goalie Calvin Pickard finished with 19 saves, while Columbus netminder Daniil Tarasov, playing for the first time since Nov. 16, recorded 31.
McDavid now has 49 regular season games with three or more assists and has 10 four-assist games, which is the most among active players.
In addition, according to NHL Stats, McDavid became just the fourth player in league history to post 120 assists in a calendar year, which also includes postseason play. Wayne Gretzky achieved the feat 11 times. Adam Oates accomplished it in 1991, and Mario Lemieux did it a year later.
–Field Level Media
