<p>It was all treat, no trick from the Edmonton Oilers on Halloween night, racking up five goals from four players en route to an important win against the Nashville Predators.</p>
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<p>The Oilers&#8217; first without captain Connor McDavid, sidelined for two-to-three weeks with an ankle injury, Thursday&#8217;s game had it all from <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2024/10/31/viktor-arvidsson-scores-his-first-goal-with-the-oilers-noah-philp-gets-first-nhl-point/">Viktor Arvidsson scoring his first goal with the team</a>, to Noah Philp notching his first ever point in the NHL, to <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2024/10/31/watch-vasily-podkolzin-lands-knockout-punch-in-first-fight-with-oilers/">Vasily Podkolzin laying a punishing punch</a>, to <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2024/10/31/oilers-zach-hyman-breaks-10-game-season-opening-goalless-streak/">Zach Hyman scoring his first of the season</a>.</p>
<p>And that doesn&#8217;t even include Leon Draisaitl&#8217;s continued dominance in the Music City, racking up a pair of goals and an assist, lifting his totals to 27 goals and 46 points in 28 games against the Predators.</p>
<p>Arvidsson got the party started early, scoring 37 seconds into the game, and while Nashville would respond with a power play goal five minutes later, it would be the most they could muster all night. Corey Perry would score, assisted by Philp and Drake Caggiula, 9:54 into the frame, and the Oilers were out of the blocks and off to the races.</p>
<p>An unlikely fight later that frame would see Ty Emberson drop the gloves with Predators forward Cole Smith, objecting to a hit the former made.</p>
<p>Draisaitl would score his first of two 9:03 into the second period, flying through the neutral zone to grab a loose puck and wiring it past Juuse Saros, adding his second early in the third, dropping the drawers of Predators defenceman Brady Brady Skjei as he drove around him to the front of the net.</p>
<p>Potentially the most important goal came late in the game, however, when Hyman got the monkey off his back, <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/oilers-zach-hyman-breaks-10-game-season-opening-goalless-streak">breaking out of a 10-game goalless drought</a>, capitalizing on a breakaway pass from defenceman Darnell Nurse. For Hyman, droughts like this have been uncommon in his time in Edmonton.</p>
<p>In fact, there had only been one instance where he had gone 10 games without a goal, having come in his first year with the team. That span had overlapped beyond 10, as between Dec. 13, 2021 and January 27th, 2022, he went a dozen games without a goal.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">zach hyman is off the schneid. <a href="https://t.co/ZEkGRH3jee">pic.twitter.com/ZEkGRH3jee</a></p>
<p>&mdash; zach (@zjlaing) <a href="https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1852175129339744605?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 1, 2024</a></p></blockquote>
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<p>Heading into Thursday&#8217;s game against there was no denying that Hyman had been the unluckiest player in the league. He had accumulated 5.72 individual expected goals, the fourth most in the league, through his first 10 games, failing to find the back of the net once. For reference, the next closest player without a goal was Dylan Cozens, who had accumulated 2.99 individual expected goals <em>less</em> than Hyman, while ranking 111th in that category.</p>
<p>But it was just a matter of time before he Hyman broke through, Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said after the game.</p>
<p>“We just had an analytics meeting with a company who was telling us that when a player hits five to six goals expected, they are guaranteed to score right away,” he said. “And Zach was sitting at about five and a half. Sure enough, tonight, he got his goal, and it was just a matter of time. It’s not like he forgot how to score.”</p>
<p>The Oilers will have to get used to life without McDavid, as he&#8217;s likely to miss around 10 games this season with his injury, but breaking through with a five-goal performance — their most in a game this season — with four different goal scorers is big for this team. They will need players to step up from every line to do their part to backfill the irreplaceable void left in McDavid&#8217;s wake.</p>
<p>Their schedule without McDavid, assuming it is a 10-game absence, will see them carry on playing the Calgary Flames, New Jersey Devils, Vegas Golden Knights, Vancouver Canucks, New York Islanders, Nashville Predators again, as well as the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens and the Ottawa Senators.</p>
<p>If they can continue to replicate similar performances as Thursday&#8217;s, they could put themselves in a strong position when their captain returns.</p>
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<p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist, making up one-half of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@daily_faceoff/streams">DFO DFS Report</a>. He can be followed on Twitter at</span></i> <a href="http://www.twitter.com/zjlaing"><span style="font-weight: 400;">@zjlaing</span></a><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.</span></i></p>
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It was all treat, no trick from the Edmonton Oilers on Halloween night, racking up five goals from four players en route to an important win against the Nashville Predators.


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The Oilers' first without captain Connor McDavid, sidelined for two-to-three weeks with an ankle injury, Thursday's game had it all from <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2024/10/31/viktor-arvidsson-scores-his-first-goal-with-the-oilers-noah-philp-gets-first-nhl-point/">Viktor Arvidsson scoring his first goal with the team</a>, to Noah Philp notching his first ever point in the NHL, to <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2024/10/31/watch-vasily-podkolzin-lands-knockout-punch-in-first-fight-with-oilers/">Vasily Podkolzin laying a punishing punch</a>, to <a href="https://oilersnation.com/2024/10/31/oilers-zach-hyman-breaks-10-game-season-opening-goalless-streak/">Zach Hyman scoring his first of the season</a>.

And that doesn't even include Leon Draisaitl's continued dominance in the Music City, racking up a pair of goals and an assist, lifting his totals to 27 goals and 46 points in 28 games against the Predators.

Arvidsson got the party started early, scoring 37 seconds into the game, and while Nashville would respond with a power play goal five minutes later, it would be the most they could muster all night. Corey Perry would score, assisted by Philp and Drake Caggiula, 9:54 into the frame, and the Oilers were out of the blocks and off to the races.

An unlikely fight later that frame would see Ty Emberson drop the gloves with Predators forward Cole Smith, objecting to a hit the former made.

Draisaitl would score his first of two 9:03 into the second period, flying through the neutral zone to grab a loose puck and wiring it past Juuse Saros, adding his second early in the third, dropping the drawers of Predators defenceman Brady Brady Skjei as he drove around him to the front of the net.

Potentially the most important goal came late in the game, however, when Hyman got the monkey off his back, <a href="https://oilersnation.com/news/oilers-zach-hyman-breaks-10-game-season-opening-goalless-streak">breaking out of a 10-game goalless drought</a>, capitalizing on a breakaway pass from defenceman Darnell Nurse. For Hyman, droughts like this have been uncommon in his time in Edmonton.

In fact, there had only been one instance where he had gone 10 games without a goal, having come in his first year with the team. That span had overlapped beyond 10, as between Dec. 13, 2021 and January 27th, 2022, he went a dozen games without a goal.

https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1852175129339744605

Heading into Thursday's game against there was no denying that Hyman had been the unluckiest player in the league. He had accumulated 5.72 individual expected goals, the fourth most in the league, through his first 10 games, failing to find the back of the net once. For reference, the next closest player without a goal was Dylan Cozens, who had accumulated 2.99 individual expected goals <em>less</em> than Hyman, while ranking 111th in that category.

But it was just a matter of time before he Hyman broke through, Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said after the game.

“We just had an analytics meeting with a company who was telling us that when a player hits five to six goals expected, they are guaranteed to score right away,” he said. “And Zach was sitting at about five and a half. Sure enough, tonight, he got his goal, and it was just a matter of time. It’s not like he forgot how to score.”

The Oilers will have to get used to life without McDavid, as he's likely to miss around 10 games this season with his injury, but breaking through with a five-goal performance — their most in a game this season — with four different goal scorers is big for this team. They will need players to step up from every line to do their part to backfill the irreplaceable void left in McDavid's wake.

Their schedule without McDavid, assuming it is a 10-game absence, will see them carry on playing the Calgary Flames, New Jersey Devils, Vegas Golden Knights, Vancouver Canucks, New York Islanders, Nashville Predators again, as well as the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens and the Ottawa Senators.

If they can continue to replicate similar performances as Thursday's, they could put themselves in a strong position when their captain returns.

<hr />

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist, making up one-half of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@daily_faceoff/streams">DFO DFS Report</a>. He can be followed on Twitter at</span></i> <a href="http://www.twitter.com/zjlaing"><span style="font-weight: 400;">@zjlaing</span></a><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.</span></i>

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