EDMONTON — Zach Hyman has lowered the boom on opponents all spring.
The workhorse winger for the Edmonton Oilers led the NHL — by a wide margin — with 109 playoff hits entering Tuesday night.
Hyman found himself on the receiving end early in Game 4 of the NHL's Western Conference final.
It didn't look good.
Hyman left midway through the first period of Edmonton's 4-1 victory over Dallas that gave the Oilers a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series after taking a glancing hit from Stars winger Mason Marchment coming out of the defensive zone.
The 32-year-old dropped his stick, clearly favouring his right arm, and made a beeline for the bench before heading down the tunnel to Edmonton's locker room with the team's medical staff.
Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch didn't have an update post-game following a result that moved his group within one win of another trip to the Stanley Cup final.
"Everyone stepped up," he added. "Go through the lineup … I liked how everyone just played a little bit better."
Knoblauch distributed Hyman's minutes among his forward depth, with both Trent Frederic and Corey Perry seeing time on superstar captain Connor McDavid's wing through two periods.
Edmonton's bench boss then leaned heavily on Leon Draisaitl in the third by double-shifting the big centre as Edmonton squeezed the life out of Dallas with a front-foot approach.
"You're not just going to make that up," Draisaitl, who had a goal and an assist, said of Hyman's absence. "But collectively, I think we have what it takes to make up for it."
Hyman started the night at Rogers Place with 27 more post-season hits than Florida Panthers centre Sam Bennett — No. 2 on the list — to go along with five goals and six assists.
The 32-year-old Toronto native, who added two more hits to his tally before exiting Tuesday, scored 54 times last season before adding 16 more in the playoffs as part of the Oilers' run to the final, where they lost to the Florida Panthers in seven games.
A free-agent signing in the summer of 2021 after six campaigns with the Maple Leafs, Hyman registered 27 goals and 17 assists for 44 points across 73 games in 2024-25.
"It's a big loss," said Edmonton forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who had another two assists to give him nine points in the series. "He's a big part of our team, on and off the ice, the way he does things. You've seen his physicality.
"It's important to our game, but other guys have already stepped up and tried to fill that gap."
The Oilers more than doubled the Stars with 50 hits Tuesday. Vasily Podkolzin led the way with eight, while Kasperi Kapanen added seven. Knoblauch also pointed to the reunited line of Podkolzin, Mattias Janmark and Viktor Arvidsson helping to pick up the slack.
"I thought we dealt with it good," Draisaitl said. "The guys that were maybe a little further down the lineup, obviously got their minutes elevated a little bit."
Edmonton, which has weathered the storm on the back end in these playoffs with the soon-to-be-healthy blueliner Mattias Ekholm sidelined, was already dealing with one injury up front after Connor Brown took a huge hit in Sunday's big 6-1 victory in Game 3.
The Oilers could elect to go with 11 forwards and seven defencemen in Game 5 on Thursday night if their two injured wingers can't go and Ekholm is ready.
"He's a huge piece, a key piece," Edmonton goaltender Stuart Skinner, who put in another outstanding effort with 28 saves, said of Hyman. "He is a cliché. He is a hard-worker, he grinds, he does the little things right, and on top of that, he's an amazing human being.
"Everyone loves that guy."
Perry, who at age 40 has seen a lot of hockey, said Hyman is "a dog-on-the-bone" for Edmonton.
"He wants the puck," said the 2007 Cup champ with Anaheim. "If he doesn't have it, he's chasing it down. That's Zach Hyman hockey."
The Oilers had to do without his relentless approach in Game 4. How long that lasts will come into better focus before the team boards a plane Wednesday just 60 minutes from another appearance in the final.
"Guys are ready to step up," Nugent-Hopkins said. "Everybody's just chomping at the bit to get out there.
"Part of it felt like we were doing it for Zach."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 27, 2025.
Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press
