Edmonton Oiler Hyman leaving mark in NHL playoffs with hits, not goals

Zach Hyman was a scoring machine a year ago. The Edmonton Oilers winger has evolved into a hit machine in this year's NHL playoffs.

Hyman leads all players with 99 hits in the post-season with Panthers forward Sam Bennett next with 72 entering Saturday's Game 3 of the Eastern Conference final between Florida and the Carolina Hurricanes.

Hyman delivered a team-leading nine checks Friday when Edmonton blanked the Dallas Stars 3-0 in Game 2 of the Western Conference final.

"He's kind of a bull out there," said teammate Evander Kane.

The Oilers took a 1-1 split home for Sunday afternoon's Game 3 at Rogers Place.

Hyman was the NHL's leading goal scorer in last year's playoffs with 16 after a regular season in which he cracked the 50-goal mark for the first time in his career.

The 31-year-old from Toronto has been more quiet in the production department this post-season with three goals and five assists in 13 games, but noisy against opposing players' bodies.

Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said Hyman has gone from a leading goal scorer in the NHL to the leading "hit guy."

"You can have any player wanting to finish checks, but you also have to have awareness of how to get there and also having the speed. Zach's quietly a very quick player. He's fast. He can get up and down the ice," said Knoblauch. 

"When he can get there, he's not turning away. Very rarely he'll not finish his check. It's paid dividends in the first two rounds and hopefully it pays dividends in this round also."

The six-foot-one, 201-pound Hyman, who turns 32 on June 9, has stayed on the right side of the law delivering checks with just six penalty minutes in the playoffs. Hyman ranked fifth on his team in hits during the regular season.

"I'm not going and looking for hits or chasing it, but if there's an opportunity to be physical, it's the playoffs. It's not the regular season," Hyman said.

Knoblauch has deployed various forward line combinations, but Hyman has spent more time recently on the wing of Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

Any Oiler alongside McDavid aims to give him the extra half-second or half-metre of ice for the captain to work his offensive wizardry.

McDavid, with three goals and 17 assists, is tied with teammate Leon Draisaitl and Stars forward Mikko Rantanen for the playoff points lead with 20.

As for the need Hyman is filling, McDavid points to Edmonton's altered style from last year when the Oilers reached the Stanley Cup final against Florida and lost in a Game 7.

"It's probably not as run and gun. It is probably not as entertaining to watch for the folks at home, but we're winning games and that's all that really matters," McDavid said.

"Guys are doing everything they can to help this team win."

Vasily Podkolzin and Evander Kane have dealt out their share of bruises with 58 and 53 hits respectively in the playoffs. Kasperi Kapanen also brings a physical brand of hockey with 17 in his four playoff games this season.

Kane said the more Oilers who are hitting opponents, the better.

"It makes it harder on the other team, makes it harder on the referees to key in on guys," he said. "When you have everybody doing it, it can wear on the other teams, create turnovers and offensive scoring opportunities."

The Stars took a 2-1 lead in Game 3 of last year's conference final against the Oilers, but Edmonton claimed the best-of-seven series in six games to reach the Cup final.

McDavid will experience an afternoon playoff puck drop for the first time in a career of 87 playoff games.

Sunday's Game 3 starts at 1 p.m. local time in Edmonton, which makes for a quick turnaround after the second game in Dallas.

"Whatever team is ready to roll is going to have the advantage," the captain said. "It's got to be us."