Zach Hyman finally entered back into the lineup on Saturday night after sustaining a brutal wrist injury late in last season’s playoffs during Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals. His absence was sorely missed, and his return was highly anticipated – and he did not disappoint. Hyman made sure his presence was known with a whopping 11 hits (3 more than the rest of the team combined) and 2 shot attempts. He ended with an assist on the night, and while this game was all McDrai, it was clear that Hyman is a cornerstone component of this team. Edmonton forechecked harder against the Hurricanes Saturday night than they have for the entire month of October.

The Oilers opened scoring for the night off a shrewd play by Darnell Nurse, who got possession deep in Edmonton’s zone and saw that Jack Roslovic was sprinting the other way looking for a cherry pick. Nurse fired the puck across the ice into Frederik Andersen and Roslovic scooped the rebound and put the puck bar down for his sixth of the year.

Connor McDavid found his way onto the scoresheet during Edmonton’s first powerplay of the night; after some back and forth passing Roslovic fired a shot wide that bounced behind the net, and McDavid threw the puck over Anderson’s shoulder before he had time to set the post. Edmonton’s powerplay is currently third in the league, but it looks even better with Zach Hyman back from the fray. The added net front presence creates a much needed sense of danger in the slot that didn’t exist for much of the early season which allowed opposing squads to aggresively push Edmonton out to the perimeter, or force turnovers on the blue line.

Naturally, as is the case this season, Edmonton didn’t hold their two goal lead. With four minutes remaining in the first the Hurricanes hounded the Oilers and generated a series of ping pong passes, culminating in a snap shot from Eric Robinson which only just barely squeezed its way through Stuart Skinners arm; if Skinner had closed his arm even a quarter second earlier the game would have stayed 2-0, but alas, the Canes went into the second period with some momentum.

And they took that momentums staight to the net to start the second. Jackson Blake wrapped around Skinner’s left side looking for a shot, but he held the shot, Skinner extended further and further out to block the angle, and finally extended too far; Blake found a pass to Nikolaj Ehlers from the trapezoid and Ehlers buried the puck into the now empty net.

The Oilers struck back though. Zach Hyman took a huge hit to get entry into the zone, Leon Draisaitl made sure Hyman’s efforts weren’t in vain, grabbing the puck and sniping it to McDavid for one of McDavid’s easier tap in goals of his career. Jordan Staal tied up the game shortly after, and both squads would spend the next thirteen minutes grinding for a ticket to overtime.

While the third period was a match of equals, overtime was anything but. Edmonton won the faceoff and retreated to their zone before starting their rush. Connor McDavid entered from the right side with speed and crossed over for a drop pass to Leon Draisaitl. Draisaitl ripped a wrist shot past Anderson in center ice, and that was all she wrote. Final score 4-3 Edmonton, 19 seconds into overtime.

With another overtime win Edmonton now sits fifth in the Pacific with a record of 9-7-4, or 22 points – 19th in the league. Not exactly a fantastic first quarter of the season, but if this is as bad as it gets for this Oilers squad, things aren’t so bad. And if we’re all being honest, the Ducks and the Kraken are not going to play 0.63 hockey for the entire season. Once the Oilers ramp up they’ll end exactly where they want to, in second or third place so they can face the Kings in the first round again.

The Oilers continue their road trip through the East in Buffalo, NY on Monday night.