Edmonton Oilers forward Zach Hyman scored once and added two assists in a 5-2 victory over the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday night at Rogers Place.
After missing 31 games with a wrist laceration, Evander Kane has returned to the field. He was on the field for 17 minutes, nine seconds, and managed 7 shots (5 on goal).
After squandering many easy opportunities, Kane said, “No worries tonight… other than my finish.” I’m looking forward to Thursday’s game (against Tampa Bay) because I felt a lot better tonight than I did when I initially came here last year
Kane’s coach for the Oilers, Jay Woodcroft, believed he had a “heck of a game” on Tuesday. I think he made us a better team, which is saying a lot for someone who has missed so much hockey but is now playing at a mid-season pace and execution level.
In the third and eleventh minute of the game, the Kraken took the lead on the power play when a feed from Daniel Sprong was deflected in by Darnell Nurse. Connor McDavid evened the score with his 38th, hitting Martin Jones high with a wrist shot after charging down the left side.
Vincent Desharnais’s point shot from the beginning of the second period found its way past Jones but stopped just short of the goal. It was first noticed by Derek Ryan. His sixth of the year went in with a swing. Oilers scored three unanswered goals after a melee in the Oilers’ net. A fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants Warren Foegele managed to hit a walk-off sixth.
Score goals and get close to the net whenever possible; this will be especially important in the postseason. And tonight we got some filthy goals,” Zach Hyman remarked.
Foegele remarked, “You see we get five goals tonight, and we’ve been talking about how we need to go to the net more and get more pucks to the net.” “Everyone’s doing their part, and they’re all working really hard; we just have to keep at it.”
Twenty-two seconds into the third, Vince Dunn sailed a soft fly ball beyond Jack Campbell’s outstretched glove. Eeli Tolvanen, while backchecking, accidentally knocked the puck into his own net, restoring the Oilers’ two-goal advantage. It was Zach Hyman who was recognized. It was 5-2 when Ryan McLeod scored his sixth on a loose puck in the crease.
To quote Woodcroft, “Three guys that maybe aren’t at the upper end of the goal chart went somewhere in order to find offensive success” in the form of Derek Ryan, Warren Foegele, and Ryan McLeod.
Campbell’s 29 saves helped him to a better record of 13-8-1. Woodcroft remarked of Campbell’s recent resurgence in play, “He earned the right to be confident by the amount of work that he put in.” Oilers (25-18-3) will play host to the Lightning on Thursday (630 CHED, Face-off Show at 5:30 p.m., game at 7 p.m.)