The Edmonton Oilers took care of their business at home at Rogers Place last night, defeating the Los Angeles Kings by a 6-3 final score and setting themselves up to advance to Round 2 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs when they meet again in Game 6 Saturday night at Crypto.com Arena.
And among the six pucks that the Oilers deposited into the Los Angeles net included one particularly painful and unique goal that would be credited to Edmonton forward Zach Hyman. He deflected a shot from defenseman Evan Bouchard past goaltender Pheonix Copley literally with his face.
The good news for the Oilers is that not only the goal count, but Hyman himself was no worse for wear.
“I just kinda turned into it,” Hyman said afterward. “A little abrasion here. Just went with the punch, took it on the chin.”
And while it felt good to contribute on the scoreboard, it didn't exactly feel good having a slap shot catch him right below the mouth.
“It happened too quick, to be honest,” he said. “Luckily, Bouch didn’t get all of it and if he had got all of it, it probably wouldn’t have gone where it went, so … I’ll take that trade-off any day for a goal.
“Obviously, I felt it. I’ve had a few go off different parts of the body, but I think that’s the first one off the face, though … But you’ve got to get to that area, and when you do, pucks hit you. You find rebounds. Score dirty goals. That’s how you score in playoffs. You get a pretty goal here and there, but a lot of it is going to tough areas and finding loose change — and sometimes, it hits you in the face. Good bounce for us.”
Hyman already came through in a major way for the Oilers earlier in the series, scoring the overtime winner in Game 4 in Los Angeles to knot things up at two games apiece.
