GAME RECAP: Oilers 6, Blue Jackets 3

EDMONTON, AB – Winger Zach Hyman scored twice in his return from injury, and Leon Draisaitl notched his 18th and 19th goals of the season to tie Florida's Sam Reinhart for the NHL's goal-scoring lead on Thursday night in a 6-3 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets at Rogers Place.

Captain Connor McDavid registered four assists with his family in the building (including his dog Lenard) after he received the golden stick from the League for reaching 1,000 career points last month.

"You try to enjoy the moment. It's not every day you get to have your parents out there, Lauren as well, and to see Lenny always makes me smile," McDavid said. "So it was a great ceremony... He's a great dog. He's definitely part of the family, so that's why he's out there."

The trio of Adam Henrique, Evan Bouchard and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins each put forward two helpers in the victory on home ice, Jeff Skinner added a goal and an assist, and defenceman Mattias Ekholm also scored in Edmonton's fourth win in their last five games.

"It always feels like you're playing better, or it feels like you're executing better when you've got some confidence and things are going your way," Jeff Skinner said. "When you go through times where it's not bouncing your way, you just have to fight through it. I think as a team, we're creating some looks."

The Oilers improve to 14-10-2 and will continue their homestand against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday when Dylan Holloway and Philip Broberg make their return to Rogers Place.

FIRST PERIOD

It's a welcome sight for Oil Country seeing Zach Hyman back in the lineup and getting on the end of set-ups like THAT ONE from Connor McDavid.

The winger marked his return from a five-game injury absence on Thursday night with the finish off an incredible dangle and delivery from his captain, who received the golden stick pre-game for becoming the 99th player in NHL history to reach 1,000 career points back on Nov. 14.

"It's nice having Zach back," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "I was just thinking about our previous game where we couldn't score a goal. Maybe he could've been the difference, but it's nice that he took the extra time and is healthy and ready to contribute. He looked good in practice leading up to this, and getting a guy back who can put the puck in the net is key for us."

Edmonton trailed Columbus 1-0 on Kevin Labanc's lucky redirection off his skate 1:47 into the game before McDavid came up with some more magic near the midway mark of the first period, taking on three Blue Jackets' players and toe-dragging defenceman Jordan Harris before throwing it across the crease to Hyman to score his fourth goal of the campaign in his first game since Nov. 19 against Ottawa.

"It's a privilege to play with him, and when you're out there, you've got to be at your best because he's always at his best," Hyman said of his captain. "And even when he's not, his not-so-best is probably better than almost anybody else's, so you gotta be ready. It was obviously an unbelievable play by him. He set me up on that first one, and it was nice to get on the board early."

Calvin Pickard made a terrific stand-up save on Cole Sillinger with less than five minutes to go in the period when the 21-year-old was found wide-open in front by Kent Johnson below the goal line, keeping it 1-1 at the end of an opening period where the Oilers outshot the Blue Jackets by a 13-9 margin.

The Oilers couldn't convert their lone power play in the first period before they were tasked with killing off 40 seconds of a Mattias Ekholm high-sticking penalty before the intermission, leaving them with more than a minute to kill off to begin the middle frame.

SECOND PERIOD

The Oilers dictated play in the middle frame by scoring three times over a 4:31 stretch of the second period to build themselves a three-goal lead over the Blue Jackets.

McDavid would've been wondering how he didn't score on a loaded shift with Leon Draisaitl that followed the Oilers killing off the remainder of Ekholm's first-period penalty when he received a potential tap-in at the back door at the end of a tic-tac-toe passing play with Draisaitl and Bouchard, but it was deflected out of play at the last second by the stick of defenceman Damon Severson.

However, the trio of Oilers would connect not long after to put the Oilers ahead 2-1, with McDavid finding Draisaitl in the slot for the German to come in and slide his 18th goal of the season under goaltender Daniil Tarasov from his backhand at 17:38 of the frame.

If you weren't sure before, Hyman is truly back because the Blue Jackets challenged Draisaitl's goal for goaltender interference, claiming the winger got the slightest of touches to Tarasov in the crease to prevent the netminder from making the save.

"I don't even think about it. I don't know if it was a goal or not," Hyman said. "Anytime there's a whistle or a challenge, I'm usually wrong on it, so I don't try to guess."

Head Coach Dean Evason's pleas were denied by the officials though, and the Oilers immediately went to the power play after taking the lead.

On the ensuing man advantage, it was Ekholm who'd have his shot blocked before he picked up the loose puck and slid his own second effort past Tarasov to make it 3-1 on a conversion for Edmonton's second-unit power play with 20 seconds left in Columbus' bench minor.

"It was a nice goal by Ekky," Jeff Skinner said. "It's not how we drew it up, but I think on the four-minute power play [later in the period], we got another shift there where I thought we worked it around. I think we could execute it just a little bit better, but I think we're creating looks. Obviously, that top unit is pretty dialed in, so for us, we just need to be ready when the opportunity arises."

Ekholm will be one of three Oilers who'll participate at the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off this coming February, and the 34-year-old's offence is one of the few reasons why he'll pull on the Yellow & Blue of the Tre Kronor.

The Oilers capped off their three-goal stretch with a terrific finish from Zach Hyman, who rifled his second goal of the game top shelf from the left circle at the end of a rush with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Connor McDavid near the period's seven-minute mark.

Hyman now has five goals in his last six games against the Blue Jackets, and seven for his career, as McDavid picked up his third helper of the game.

"I thought it was nice to get Hyms back. It was nice to create some chances," McDavid said. "I thought Bouch played good as well. When you've got three guys playing well, it's fun out there. Being out there with Bouch and Ekky helps too."

Severson got a goal back for the Blue Jackets with a knuckle puck that bounced off defenceman Ty Emberson and went under Calvin Pickard right arm, but Jeff Skinner responded before the intermission during a shift with his linemates Mattias Janmark and Adam Henrique.

Henrique found Skinner open along the goal line from behind the net before No. 53 came towards the Columbus crease and went back across Tarasov at the near post to slide in his fifth goal of the season, with both of his linemates picking up the assists to help the Oilers take a 5-2 lead.

"Anytime you can contribute offensively, it's a good feeling," Skinner said. "It was a nice play by Rico and a nice play by Janny right before to cycle it down to him, too."

The Oilers did have an extended look with the man advantage in the period's second half after Dante Fabbro high-sticked Kasperi Kapanen for a double minor, but despite being unable to convert, the Blue & Orange were sitting pretty through 40 minutes against Columbus.

THIRD PERIOD

Edmonton's Leon Draisaitl and Florida's Sam Reinhart look prepared to go shot for shot to determine this year's Rocket Richard Trophy as the League's top goal scorer after the German netted his 19th goal of the season for a milestone PPG that restored his team's three-goal lead for good.

Cole Sillinger's long wrist shot through traffic made it 5-3 with 13:50 remaining, but with Dmitri Voronkov in the box, the German would cap off Edmonton's 6-3 lead just nine seconds into the power play by unleashing a wicked one-timer under the bar for his 150th career power-play goal.

Draisaitl became the eighth-fastest skater in NHL history and the second-fastest active skater after Alex Ovechkin (676 games) to achieve the feat, reaching the milestone in his 745th game.

McDavid passed off to his other half of the Dynamic Duo to register his fourth assist of the night, while Nugent-Hopkins received the secondary helper for his second assist of the game on No. 29's effort that ties him for the League lead in goals.