Hyman’s hat trick, McDavid’s 5-assist effort help propel Oilers past Kings 7-4 in Game 1

April 23, 2024 Canuck

Zach Hyman had three goals and an assist, and Connor McDavid had five assists as the Edmonton Oilers ended their series-opening jinx with a 7-4 victory on Monday over the Los Angeles Kings in Game 1 of their first-round NHL playoff series.

Adam Henrique, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Leon Draisaitl and Warren Foegele also scored and Evan Bouchard chipped in with four assists for the Oilers who had lost the first game of their last seven playoff series and had not won Game 1 of a series on home ice since 1990.

Mikey Anderson, Adrian Kempe, Pierre-Luc Dubios and Trevor Moore scored for the Kings, who were eliminated in the opening round by the Oilers in each of the previous two seasons.

Hyman, who rang a shot off the post a few minutes earlier, started the scoring seven minutes into the opening period. McDavid spun off a defender and then sent a backhand pass in front to Hyman, who beat Kings goalie Cam Talbot. Hyman had 54 goals in the regular season.

Edmonton made it 2-0 less than three minutes later as Henrique, who was picked up at the trade deadline from Anaheim, unleashed a perfect wrist shot top corner for his first goal in his first post-season appearance in six years. Henrique set a Stanley Cup playoff record for the longest span between goals, his last goal coming 4,333 days earlier when he was in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup final in 2012 with the New Jersey Devils.

McDavid continued to work his magic five minutes into the second period as he once again spun out from behind the net and sent another pretty backhand pass in front to Hyman for his second of the night. The goal came right on the heels of the Kings’ best opportunity to that point when Viktor Arvidsson was stopped on a breakaway by Oilers starter Stuart Skinner.

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