Oilers’ Zach Hyman’s first goal ‘off the face’: What he saw and how he felt about it

EDMONTON — Then, in the glow of Edmonton’s 6-3 victory over the Los Angeles Kings that put his team ahead 3-2 in the best-of-seven playoff series, Oilers forward Zack Hyman was in his locker, waiting for Leon Dricetel. to finish his interviews. A few of us were drawn to Hyman because – let’s face it – he just scored the strangest goal of his NHL career. He came on at 15:47 of the second period, on the Oilers power play.

The Kings had just changed their goaltender—from Jonas Korbesalo to Phoenix Copley—and Heyman was in his usual spot, in front of goal, making screens and mayhem. Oilers’ quarterback Evan Bouchard fired a point shot that wasn’t quite as fast as usual.

Also, because when the puck was heading towards the net, Hyman turned his head. I caught him just under his chin and he swerved into the window.

“It kind of turned into that,” he said. A little scraping here. I just went with the punch, and took it on the chin.”

Someone asked: Did Hyman’s life flash before his eyes on this goal?

He replied, “It happened pretty quickly, to be honest.” Fortunately, Bush didn’t get all of that, and if he did, he probably wouldn’t have gone where he went, so… I’d take that trade-off any day for a purpose.

“Obviously, I felt it. I had a little bit of different parts of the body, but I think that’s the first part of the face, though…but you have to get to that area, and when you do that, the pucks hit you. You find the balls.” “Rebounds. Scores sloppy goals. That’s how you score in the playoffs. You get a nice goal here and there, but a lot of it goes into tricky areas and finds loose change-up – and sometimes, it hits you in the face. A good rebound for us.”

Heyman always seems to have a smile on his face — and on Tuesday night, there was a lot of smiling in the Oilers’ locker room. Sometimes you get surprises in a series interlude and sometimes it just follows in text. On this night, The Oilers followed a familiar and successful scenario.

Two more power play goals for the best power play in NHL history, one by Evander Kane and then the one by Hyman’s face. Two equal goals from new Heyman center Nick Begstad, who plays him and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins so the Oilers can load up a streak from Connor McDavid, Drasitel and Kane.

The Kings showed resilience in the first four games of the series, but had no answers for the Oilers’ star power tonight. It was about as routine a victory as one can get in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

“It’s part of the training—set some lines, find some matches, and it worked out tonight,” Heyman said. “Another game to finish. We’re putting ourselves in a good place after tonight.”

Due to scheduling conflicts in Los Angeles regarding the NBA Playoffs, the series doesn’t resume until Saturday night, giving both teams some time to rest and recover. The Kings, especially veterans Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty, are likely to take advantage of the rest time. Meanwhile, the Oeters seem to be hitting their stride. Hyman scored the winning goal in overtime to secure Game 4 for the Oilers. Kane got them on the board first in Game 5.

“You don’t score every game as often as you would in hockey,” Hyman said. “Woody (coach Jay Woodcroft) uses the analogy — hitting the rock. You just keep hitting the rock, doing the right process, and you’re going to get in; then he starts going in, in combinations, and then other players score and that’s kind of how you win a hockey game. Scoring from all areas of your team.”

All areas of your team – and all areas of your anatomy.

(Photo: Perry Nelson/USA Today)