Hyman has 3 goals, McDavid gets 3 assists as Oilers beat Hurricanes 6-2 for 5th straight win
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Zach Hyman scored three goals for his second hat trick of the season, Connor McDavid had three assists, and the Edmonton Oilers beat the Carolina Hurricanes 6-1 on Wednesday night for their fifth straight win.
Ryan McLeod, Mattias Ekholm and Warren Foegele also scored for the Oilers, and Mattias Janmark also had three assists. Stuart Skinner stopped 39 shots.
Edmonton has won eight of 11 after losing 10 of its first 12 games (2-9-1).
“I think it’s just calming to get back on track,” Hyman said. “To get back to the team that we know we can be, and I think there’s still room for us to grow and build and it’s just great to find our team confidence again and play like this. And we’re going to continue to do it.”
Jordan Staal scored in the third period for the Hurricanes (14-10-1), who have lost two in a row. Pyotr Kochetkov was pulled after giving up three goals on six shots in the first 5:46 of the game. Antti Raanta came on and finished with 25 saves.
“It was just all-around (bad),” Staal said. “No fight back, everyone was just hoping for a chance and just giving them 3-on-2s and 2-on-1s. Against a team like that they’re obviously going to make you pay.”
Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour wasn’t sugar-coating things either.
“It was just a bad game from start to finish, we didn’t have anything going,” he said. “I haven’t seen a game like that out of us, so I’m a little bit of a loss for words. It’s not acceptable, not for sure, and our top guys especially have to show up more.”
Edmonton scored on the game’s first two shots. Just 28 seconds in, Foegele stole a puck behind Carolina’s net and sent it in front to McLeod, who scored just his second of the season. Only 13 seconds after that, McDavid sent a pretty pass through the crease to Ekholm for an easy tap-in. Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard extended his points streak to a career-best nine games with an assist on the play.
Edmonton’s two goals in the first 41 seconds were the second-fastest two goals to begin a game in Oilers history. The record is 24 seconds in 1982, scored by Mark Messier and Dave Lumley.
The Oilers kept up the pressure with another goal coming 5:46 into the opening period as Hyman reversed thrust before cutting in front and scoring his 13th. That ended Kochetkov's night.
Edmonton made it 4-0 with six minutes to play in the first as Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was able to get it across to Hyman all alone for a one-timer blast that beat Raanta for his second of the game. McDavid picked up his second assist, his fifth multi-point game during his current seven-game point streak.
The Oilers kept it coming with another goal coming at 2:49 of the second period as Janmark blocked a shot, sending Foegele in on a breakaway which he capped off by jamming the puck under Raanta’s pads.
“I thought it was a real mature effort tonight,” Foegele said. “We pot two goals quick and then we stayed with it. We weren’t cheating for offence after that lead. ... To win in this league you have to hold leads and it is nice that we did that.”
Carolina broke Skinner’s shutout bid seven minutes into the third as the final pass on a 3-on-1 break went to Staal, who scored his third.
McDavid contributed a highlight reel play to the proceedings midway through the third, stripping the puck away at the Carolina blue line before splitting the defense and dishing a pass across to Hyman for his third goal of the game and third career hat trick. Hyman has scored 11 goals in his last 10 games.
McDavid recorded his 570th career NHL assist, passing Jari Kurri for the third-most in Oilers franchise history.
UP NEXT
Hurricanes: At Calgary on Thursday night in the third of a four-game trip.
Oilers: Host Minnesota on Friday night in the second of a six-game homestand.
___
AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL
