Hyman scores hat trick, Oilers ease past Capitals

EDMONTON -- Zach Hyman scored a natural hat trick for the Edmonton Oilers in a 7-2 win against the Washington Capitals at Rogers Place on Wednesday.

Leon Draisaitl had a goal and three assists, and Connor McDavid had a goal and two assists for the Oilers (40-21-3), who opened a four-game homestand following a 2-1-1 road trip. Stuart Skinner made 23 saves.

Hyman has 46 goals, 10 more than his previous NHL career high, set last season. He has five NHL hat tricks, four this season.

"I think a lot of people thought he was a complimentary player, but he’s contributed so much to our team,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “He goes to the net, he gets his stick available. He doesn't get tied up. He works hard but also pretty skilled and very smart.

“For a guy who's going to get 50, I assume, you're doing a lot of good things that other guys don't have the skill to do."

Connor McMichael and Ivan Miroshnichenko scored, and Darcy Kuemper made 30 saves for the Capitals (30-25-9), who are 0-2-0 to start a five-game road trip following a 3-0 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Monday.

“I actually thought we did some pretty good things 5-on-5,” Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said. “Penalty kill obviously is an issue for us. You’ve got to look at the opposition in that department, but I thought we were right there for a bit and there were just a couple of mistakes.

“[Martin Fehervary’s] turnover in the neutral zone, those little things against a team like this, then you get behind the eight ball. When you get down a couple, that becomes really, really challenging.

“It was a tough night, it’s not a great matchup for our team in general with their speed and skill.”

Draisaitl made it 1-0 on a one-timer from the right face-off dot on the power play at 4:36 of the first period.

McDavid pushed it to 2-0 on the power play at 6:58, stickhandling through open ice from the blue line into the slot, where he sent a wrist shot low stick side past Kuemper.

Shots were 9-0 at that point, before the Capitals scored on their first shot of the game at 8:30. Oilers defenseman Troy Stecher swatted the puck out of midair before Miroshnichenko chased it down, turned and scored on a slap shot from the right hash marks to make it 2-1.

McMichael tied it 2-2 on the power play at 10:55, snapping a loose puck into the open net past a sliding Skinner after Ovechkin bounced a shot off the shin pad of Vincent Desharnais.

Just 29 seconds later, Hyman put Edmonton ahead 3-2 after taking a centering pass that bounced off of both Nick Jensen and Nic Dowd before shoveling his own rebound past Kuemper at 10:55.

Hyman then made it 4-2 at 14:13 of the second period, going high stick side on a centering pass from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins after a neutral-zone turnover by Fehervary.

Hyman completed the natural hat trick with his Oilers-leading 46th goal, taking a glancing blow from a slap shot from the point by Evan Bouchard to make it 5-2 on the power play with 52 seconds left in the second period. The goal was originally credited to Bouchard but was changed late in the third period; fans acknowledged it by belatedly tossing hats onto the ice.

Hyman has 29 goals in 24 home games.

“I didn’t know that,” Hyman said. “I like playing here. I love playing in front of these fans. I love playing at home, I think our team loves playing here. You want to have success in your building.

“We were game. I thought special teams were good. They got a lucky, off the shin pad, great block by [Desharnais] that just landed on a guy’s stick. I thought ‘Stu’ responded and was great and we got three power play goals. The power play was working, obviously. It was great to be on the right side of it.”

Warren Foegele made it 6-2 at 10:43 of the third period, taking a pass from behind the net by Ryan McLeod and beating Kuemper to his glove side.

Just 17 seconds later, Connor Brown scored his first goal of the season, taking a centering pass from Evander Kane in tight and directing it over the left pad of Kuemper at 11:00 for the 7-2 final.

It was Brown’s first goal in 72 games, dating to March 24, 2022.

“It’s nice to have it in the past. It’s nice to get on the board and just go out and play,” said Brown, who had been rehabbing a knee injury. “I believed in myself. I know that I was just focused on feeling better, getting faster, stronger, playing better. I know that I’m around the net enough that one is going to pop in.”

NOTES: Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin had an assist to pass Mark Recchi for 14th in NHL history, with 1,534 points (840 goals, 694 assists) in 1,408 games. … McDavid pushed his home point streak to 26 games (62 points; 15 goals, 47 assists). Wayne Gretzky’s Oilers record is 33, in 1985-86. … It was the 13th meeting between Ovechkin and McDavid, with the Capitals going 7-4-2 and Edmonton 6-6-1 … Ovechkin has 12 points (five goals and seven assists); McDavid has 23 points (eight goals and 15 assists).