In the Edmonton Oilers’ second game of a back-to-back, the team faced the Pittsburgh Penguins and had the ice tilted in the home team’s favour all game long. The Oilers potted six goals—all at 5v5—against the Penguins to coast to victory, and two of those goals came from Zach Hyman.
With those two goals, a big marker was reached for the 31-year-old winger. Whether temporary or not, the former Toronto Maple Leaf passed current Maple Leaf Auston Matthews for the best 5v5 goals scoring rate in the NHL.
The Oilers have the best 5v5 scorer in the NHL
Let’s look at this line above again: “The Oilers have the best 5v5 scorer in the NHL.” Who would have known this would come three quarters into the season and it would be Hyman and not Connor McDavid. Last season, McDavid led the Oilers with 32 5v5 goals. Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Hyman ranked second through fourth with 17, 16, and 15 goals, respectively.
This season, Hyman’s 28 more than doubles everyone else on the roster as McDavid and Draisaitl both have 13 for a two-way tie for second. So while Hyman’s already improving on his goal scoring rate at an insane pace, he’s doing it in a more impressive way by doing it all at 5v5.
Right now, Matthews and Hyman are tied for first in the NHL with 28 goals at 5v5. However, Matthews has played 59 games this season; Hyman with one fewer at 58. Matthews has skated 909:15 at 5v5; Hyman with less ice time at 905:30. That is just to say, Hyman is scoring at a better pace than Matthews.
So here’s how this math all breaks down. All 5v5 stats from NaturalStatTrick.com.
| Player | Goals | GP | Goals/GP | Goals/60 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zach Hyman | 28 | 58 | 0.483 | 1.86 |
| Auston Matthews | 28 | 59 | 0.475 | 1.85 |
These two players are in a class of their own this year. Among all regular NHLers this season, here are the third place players across the three categories above of goals, goals per game, and goals per 60 minutes:
| Player | Goals | GP | Goals/GP | Goals/60 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nathan MacKinnon | 26 | 62 | 0.419 | 1.49 |
| Nils Hoglander | 19 | 61 | 0.311 | 1.70 |
Nathan MacKinnon’s 26 goals at 5v5 puts him third in the NHL, but he’s played much more than the two players ahead of him. MacKinnon’s 5v5 ice time clocks in at 1046:33. That’s almost two and a half hours’ worth of extra ice time compared to Hyman and Matthews. The drop-off between MacKinnon and the two ahead of him is seen in the goals per games played and goals per 60 minutes values. The gap between first and second is minuscule, while the gap between second and third is massive.
Then there’s Nils Hoglander. He has far fewer goals, but he’s actually third in the NHL in terms of 5v5 goals per 60 minutes. He’s played just 669:45 at 5v5 so he’s definitely not seeing as much ice time as the others, but he’s 19 goals in his limited ice time is putting him high above the rest of the league.
Looking at where the third place players stack up compared to Hyman and Matthews, it’s clear that this is a two-horse race and they are neck and neck.
Hyman keeps scoring
As a team, the Oilers have one of the best 5v5 offences in the league. Their offensive system is world class and on most nights they’ll feast on their opponents. With the NHL evolving to a newer style of offence where high-danger chances are prioritised, the Oilers have led the way this season by being the best at doing exactly that.
The biggest beneficiary of this system has been Hyman as he’s converting and scoring at 5v5 in quite literally the best rate in the NHL.
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
