Hyman gets hat trick, Oilers cruise past Hurricanes

EDMONTON -- Zach Hyman scored a hat trick for the Edmonton Oilers, who extended their winning streak to five games with a 6-1 victory against the Carolina Hurricanes at Rogers Place on Wednesday.

It was Hyman's second hat trick this season (Nov. 11) and third in the NHL.

"I try to get better every year," Hyman said. "It's pretty simple but just try to work on things that I need to work on and ... yeah I play with pretty good players, too. Connor [McDavid] set me up pretty nicely for the third one, and then [Ryan Nugent-Hopkins] gave me a nice play for the second one, so, you have to have linemates to be able to produce, and I'm fortunate to play with two of the best."

McDavid and Mattias Janmark each had three assists, and Warren Foegele had a goal and an assist for the Oilers (10-12-1), who have outscored their opponents 26-8 during their winning streak. Stuart Skinner made 39 saves.

“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 offense after that lead. It was just solid checking by the whole team.

“To win in this league you have to hold leads, and it is nice that we did that.”

Jordan Staal scored for the Hurricanes (14-10-1), who have lost two straight. Pyotr Kochetkov allowed three goals on six shots before being replaced early in the first period by Antti Raanta, who made 25 saves.

Ryan McLeod scored 28 seconds into the game to give Edmonton a 1-0 lead. Foegele stole the puck from Jaccob Slavin behind the net and passed out front to McLeod, who scored five-hole on Kochetkov.

Mattias Ekholm scored 13 seconds later to make it 2-0, tapping in a cross-crease pass from McDavid at the left post.

“It was just a bad game from start to finish. We didn’t have anything going,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “You get in a hole like that right off the bat, that’s certainly not how you want to start a game. I haven’t seen a game like that out of us, so I’m a little bit at a loss for words.

“It’s not acceptable, not for sure. And our top guys especially have to show up more. You could definitely see their top guys out there, so we have to be better.”

Hyman extended the lead to 3-0 at 5:46 of the first when he cut back on Brett Pesce along the goal line, drove toward the net and tucked a shot past Kochetkov's left pad while falling to the ice.

Hyman then made it 4-0 at 14:03 with a one-timer from the left circle off a pass from Nugent-Hopkins.

“I thought McLeod’s line started the game off with a statement, and I thought they were amazing the whole game,” Hyman said. “So, that really gets the team started, a goal on the first shift. And then obviously we followed up with another one, and then you’re up 2-0 before you blink. So, that makes the game a lot easier.”

Foegele pushed it to 5-0 at 2:49 of the second period, scoring under the right pad of Raanta on a breakaway after Janmark blocked a one-timer by Jesperi Kotkaniemi.

“That is just a good play that you try to make every game whether you are scoring or not,” Janmark said. “The fact that it ends up as an apple is a plus. I just try to play the same way every night and then some nights, I could probably play this game 100 times and I wouldn’t have three points on the night, but you have to play the same way no matter what.”

Jordan Staal cut it to 5-1 at 7:05 of the third period, finishing a saucer pass from Slavin on a 3-on-1.

“It’s wasn’t pretty the whole game, kind of more embarrassing really,” Staal said. “Good thing we play tomorrow (at the Calgary Flames), I wouldn’t want to sit on that one for too long.

“They got two goals in the first minute. It’s tough to come back in this league in general. They were fresh and ready to go and we were slow and not finding anything that we do, so that’s what it’s going to look like.”

Hyman completed the hat trick at 9:35 to make it 6-1. McDavid stole the puck from Michael Bunting near the blue line and deked around Brent Burns in the slot before passing across to Hyman for the finish.

"He plays the right way, he doesn't take shortcuts," Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said of Hyman. "A lot of credit should be given to his linemates and the players that he's playing with ... but he's finding ways to score goals, and it's nice to see."

NOTES: McDavid has 19 points (four goals, 15 assists) during a seven-game point streak. ... The two goals in the first 41 seconds were the second-fastest to start a game in Oilers history. They scored two goals in the opening 24 seconds of a 6-2 win against the Los Angeles Kings on March 28, 1982. ... Hyman has scored 11 goals in his past 10 games. ... Janmark had two points (one goal, one assist) in his first 12 games this season.