Hyman returns to Oilers’ lineup for pivotal NHL regular-season finale

The Edmonton Oilers have made the playoffs for the seventh straight year. CTV News Edmonton's Evan Kenny takes a look at what fans can expect.

Zach’s back.

The Edmonton Oilers’ lineup for their final regular-season game of the season on Thursday night will include top-liner Zach Hyman.

The 33-year-old winger missed the Oilers’ previous five games with an undisclosed injury.

“It’s never easy to sit out and to not play games,” Hyman told media after practice on Wednesday as the Oilers prepare to host the Vancouver Canucks.

“It’s something that was lingering and I just wanted to get it taken care of. It was getting worse, and now it’s getting better and it feels good.”

He said sitting out the last five games was an effort to get healthier, not simply to rest ahead of the post-season, which begins across the National Hockey League on Saturday.

“You want to be playing your best in the playoffs,” Hyman said. “Having said that, if I felt like I could play in the regular season, I won’t just sit out games. I don’t like doing that.

“It’s not something that I was just sitting out (for). It was taking care of something and making sure that you’re able to contribute at the level that you need to in order to make sure that the team has success. In the playoffs, I play a little bit more physical, obviously, so I’ve got to make sure that I’m ready to play at that level.”

Head coach Kris Knoblauch said he welcomes having the winger back in the lineup, considering the Oilers have been struggling somewhat to generate offence.

Hyman, who often plays on an even-strength line centred by Connor McDavid and on the NHL-best power play, has scored 31 goals in 57 games played this season. In his five campaigns with the Oilers, he’s scored 30-plus three times, including a 54-goal effort two years ago.

“It’s nice having a big-time goal scorer back in your lineup, especially after the last two games where we’ve fallen a little short and played well but not been able to put the puck in the net, and that’s what Zach is really good at,” Knoblauch told reporters.

And inserting Hyman into the lineup is not simply to help him get his sea legs back after a few games off, it’s to help the Oilers finish strongly and as high in the standings as possible as the final standings in the Pacific Division and Western Conference seeding are not yet determined, even with just one game left to play for most teams.

“Tomorrow is a very important game for us, and he will help,” he said.

The Oilers will be scoreboard watching Wednesday night as the Vegas Golden Knights – who sit first in the Pacific with 93 points, two ahead of second-place Edmonton – play their final regular-season game at home to the Seattle Kraken.

All Vegas needs to do is earn a single point from an overtime loss, nevermind two from a win, to clinch the division.

But if they don’t, the Oilers have a chance at the Pacific crown.

Regardless, the Oilers simply need to beat the Canucks on Thursday (7 p.m. game start) to ensure home-ice advantage in the first round – and to avoid potentially dropping into the second wild-card slot currently occupied by the Los Angeles Kings, who sit one point behind the Oilers and who are tied point-wise with the third-place Anaheim Ducks.

That’s what would happen if the Oilers lose to the Canucks and both the Ducks and Kings win their final games. Their first-round playoff opponent would then be the Colorado Avalanche, the league’s top seed, who beat them 2-1 on Monday.

“Tomorrow, our goal is to win,” Knoblauch said. “(It would set) us up better for the playoffs, whether we’re fortunate enough to get home ice advantage or possibly win the Pacific, but our mindset is to win tomorrow to help us in the long run.”