You always knew the Edmonton Oilers were going to be up for this one, after everything which happened in the previous matchup with the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night. The only thing worse than losing that game 3-2, was subsequently finding out they would be without Connor McDavid for three games, which we would contend came as a result of horrific officiating.
The Canucks can say all they want about Tyler Myers also being suspended for three games, but it just doesn't cut it. In the end though, that sequence of events provided the Oilers with all the motivation they needed, to put on a master class which resulted in a 6-2 win on Thursday night back on home ice.
We won't go as far as claiming the Canucks never had a chance, but after Zach Hyman opened the scoring just under six minutes into the game, the Oilers could taste blood and wouldn't let up. They scored twice more in the space of 20 seconds courtesy of Leon Draisaitl and Adam Henrique respectively to make it 3-0 after one period, and there as no coming back for their Canadian rivals.
Zach Hyman playing more and more like last season
Hyman scored his second goal less than two minutes into the middle period to make it 4-0, and although he missed two excellent chances to claim a hat-trick, he was still awarded the First Star of the Game. After a slow start to the season, the winger has rounded into form these past two months, highlighted by 21 points and a +13 rating in his past 23 games.
Of course as you'd expect from Hyman, he was more concerned about the team winning, as opposed to any individual accomplishments. As per Jamie Umbach of NHL.com, he said:
"A big team win. With Connor out, everybody needed to step up, and I thought it was a good four-line performance. All the D contributed, and then Picks played great, so it was a good team win. Coming off two losses, you want to nip it in the bud I thought we did a really good job."
As per Hyman's comments, this was a much-needed win following the first two-game regulation losing streak since early November. As much as the Oilers are still doing just fine overall, it was important to keep in touch with the Vegas Golden Knights and Winnipeg Jets at the top of the Western Conference standings.
As an interesting aside, this was Hyman's first time without the face shield he'd worn for 16 games after breaking his nose. He definitely believed it aided his performance, as he said:
"It was more natural and easier to breathe, and when you look down, you can see the puck and there's not a barrier there. So that helps for a split second or whatever it is, and it's been a long time."
Leon Draisaitl running away with the goal-scoring lead
Draisaitl was arguably better than Hyman on the night, but had to 'settle' for the Second Star of the Game, as he added two assists to his first period goal. He now has a seven-goal lead for most in the NHL as of Friday morning, while also closing to within one of Nathan MacKinnon for the most overall points in the league.
As with Hyman, the five-time All-Star was more focused on how well the team played collectively, particularly the third and fourth lines. Also as per Umbach, he said:
"They were great tonight. Obviously, you need guys to score and you need that secondary scoring. It seems like whenever we're looking for it a little bit and searching for it, guys step up and obviously, that's what makes a good team."
Corey Perry has an eventful and effective night
An intangible which helped the Oilers on the night, was Corey Perry being at his antagonistic best. This was particularly highlighted by how he essentially threw Quinn Hughes to the ice, as part of a mass scuffle that was caused by that man Conor Garland.
Perry had a long conversation at the second intermission with J.T. Miller, who is currently going through some troubles of his own in Vancouver. As per Umbach, when asked about it by the media afterwards, he gave a playful response as he said:
"I was just playing hockey. That's all I was doing out there... I just asked him what he had for dinner and how everything was going, so that was it."
Perhaps Perry's best moment of the night, was after the Canucks had scored two straight to make it 5-2 and appeared set to go on the power play early in the third period. However, he wound Teddy Blueger up to the point that the Canucks forward wanting to fight him and drew a roughing penalty to even the sides again,
Draisaitl marvelled at how his teammate performed on the night generally, and specifically with the Blueger incident, in being clever enough not to engage in a fight. The 2020 Hart Trophy winner said:
"He knows when to do what at the right time, and he does it better than anybody out there. So that's just a mature, really smart hockey play. I know it has nothing to do with hockey, but it's a hockey play."
It really has become a fun and intense rivalry recently between the two Canadian teams. The Canucks swept the regular season series last season, before the Oilers got revenge by knocking them out in the second round of the playoffs.
In this respect, Thursday night's game signalled the end of their regular season series for 2024-25, with the Oilers winning two of the three games. We're sure there are plenty of hockey fans who would enjoy seeing them match up again with the Canucks in this season's playoffs; the officials really would need to have their wits about them and perform better to keep control.