Oilers Winger Is Back With Big Scoring Streak

Sometimes, you just need a bit of a kick in the pants.

Zach Hyman got a couple. He was struggling to start the year, with just three goals in 20 games, when he left November 19th's game in Montreal with an injury and didn't return for two weeks.

To add insult to injury, he was not on Canada's Four Nations Face-Off roster when it was announced on December 4th, fairly surprising considering his 54-goal campaign last season.

Maybe it was the extra rest he got while injured, maybe it was the Team Canada snub, or maybe some combination of the two, but Hyman has woken up. He's scored seven goals in the past six games, more than anyone other than Tampa Bay's Jake Guentzel, including two in Edmonton's 6-5 loss to Florida on Monday night.

Hyman did get an injury scare in that game, taking an Evan Bouchard shot to the face late in the second period. Thankfully, it seems he won't miss any time, which means he'll just look cooler as he scores goals in a bubble visor.

This bounce-back shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. Hyman was as good as ever early in the season, maybe even better. He was still generating tons of scoring chances, driving puck possession and winning battles, and he even looked faster and more dynamic than in years past. The pucks just weren't going in for him.

Hyman has long been one of the game's premier scoring chance creators. He's led the league in expected goals each of the past two seasons, with former linemate Auston Matthews the only other player to join him above the 50 xG threshold in one season.

While his xG numbers have dipped a bit this year, he's still 16th in the league, despite missing five games at the end of November.

So while his recent scoring binge is unsustainable -- he's shooting 29.2% since his return -- it's nothing more than a course correction from his earlier misfortunes. MoneyPuck credits him with 13.3 xG to his actual 10, showing that he's still been unlucky. Not to mention that he hasn't notched a single assist since his return, which is even less sustainable than shooting almost 30%.

The Oilers can do a lot on the backs of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, that hasn't changed. But they look a whole lot scarier when they're getting secondary scoring, and Zach Hyman is their most important player in that regard. With Hyman scoring at his usual rate, there's almost nothing the Oilers can't do.

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