NHL: Ottawa Senators at Edmonton Oilers - Source: Imagn

3 most impressive Edmonton Oilers players from 3-1 win over Ottawa Senators feat. Zach Hyman

Modified Dec 23, 2024 11:40 GMT

The Edmonton Oilers were fresh off two consecutive overtime victories coming into Sunday night's game against the visiting Ottawa Senators, who were the winners of a season-high six straight games.

The Oilers earned come-from-behind victories against both the Boston Bruins and the San Jose Sharks, thanks in large part to the contributions of defenseman Mattias Ekholm, who notched the overtime-winning goal and the game-tying goal in each of the two aforementioned games.

This time, the Oilers didn't need overtime to get the job done. They defeated the Senators by a 3-1 final score, improving their record so far in the 2024-25 season to 21-11-2, while the Senators fell to 18-14-2.

Oilers forward Viktor Arvidsson opened the scoring, notching his third goal of the season in his first year with Edmonton; he had previously missed 15 games with an injury.

Just 25 seconds into the second period, the Senators knotted the score at 1-1 thanks to Nick Cousins scoring his fifth goal. But at the 14:05 mark of the period, Zach Hyman remained red-hot by scoring his 13th goal and 10th in his last nine games.

Early in the third period, veteran Adam Henrique struck with his third goal, increasing Edmonton's lead to 3-1, which would be the final score.

3 most impressive Edmonton Oilers players from 3-1 win over Ottawa Senators

#1. Zach Hyman

After a very frustrating start to the season in which Hyman was nowhere near on a pace to repeat his 54-goal season of 2023-24, he's right back to where he left off.

He picked up his 13th goal of the season, giving him 10 goals in his last nine games.

“It was just a 20-game blip,” he said of his start. “I thought I was playing well, I just wasn’t scoring. That’s what happens, you just have to keep playing. If you continue to stick with it and if your team has the confidence to stick with you which obviously the coaching staff did.”

Hyman is now on pace to reach 31 goals, though that number could easily increase based on his production.

#2. Stuart Skinner

Skinner has picked up his second straight victory, halting the Senators and their six-game winning streak.

While he wasn't overly busy with just 21 shots against, he still turned aside multiple high-percentage opportunities along with three shots each from Claude Giroux and Brady Tkachuk.

A confident Skinner is a great thing for the Oilers, and his level of belief in himself can only go up with performances like Sunday.

#3. Viktor Arvidsson

It's not been an easy season for Arvidsson, who decided to join the Oilers in free agency after getting knocked out of the playoffs by them while a member of the Los Angeles Kings for the last handful of seasons.

Arvidsson not only scored but registered an assist for his first two-point game in an Oilers uniform. He brings valuable depth to Edmonton's lineup, something they'll be relying upon when the postseason rolls around.