2024-03-24 23:38:00
OTTAWA – Zach Hyman became the second NHL player this season to reach the 50-goal mark on Sunday when he joined the select club during the game between the Edmonton Oilers and the Ottawa Senators.
It’s the first time in his career that Hyman, 31, has flashed the red light 50 times.
In fact, the Toronto-born winger had never scored 40 goals either, his best production so far being 36 goals last season.
The celebrations of Hyman’s accomplishment, however, quickly gave way to the disappointment of a second defeat in the space of 24 hours, this time by a score of 5-3 to the Sens.
Kris Knoblauch’s men allowed eleven goals to their Ontario rivals during these two forgettable matches.
Even dominated 36 to 16 in the shots column, Ottawa showed opportunism by scoring three times in a numerical superiority situation.
Jakob Chychrun took advantage of the penalty imposed on Mattias Ekholm for hooking Mathieu Joseph, and the American defenseman’s second goal of the evening at 16:57 of the third period gave the Senators their first lead of the evening.
Parker Kelly then closed the debate by depositing the puck into an empty net, while the big Alberta guns threatened to send the duel into overtime.
Drake Batherson also scored against Calvin Pickard, while Tim Stützle had a three-point game (1-2), including his 50th assist.
Hyman is eight goals behind his former teammate, Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews. He was joined a few moments later by Sam Reinhart of the Florida Panthers with also 50 goals under his belt.
As usual, Hyman was near the opposing net when he added this 50th success to his record, early in the second period.
No. 18 of the Oilers was stationed at the mouth of the cage defended by Joonas Korpisalo, and he easily deflected the perfect pass reserved for him by his captain Connor McDavid, who amassed his 90th and 91st assists of the campaign during the first two periods.
Hyman came to his home province on Saturday with 48 goals on the clock. He scored one against the Maple Leafs in the 6-3 loss that the Albertans suffered.
There are four more years remaining on the seven-year, $38.5 million deal (for an annual salary of $5.5 million) that he signed with Edmonton as a free agent in the summer of 2021.
The other Oilers scorers in the defeat were Adam Henrique (20th of the season) and Leon Draisaitl (37th).
Reinhart also marks his 50th
Sam Reinhart reached the 50-goal mark this season with a two-goal production in a 4-1 win for the Florida Panthers over the Philadelphia Flyers.
He is the second player in Panthers history to score 50 goals in a season. The other was Pavel Bure, who did it twice during his time with the team.
Before this season, lReinhart’s highest goal haul was 33 in 2021-22.
It was he who opened the scoring in the first period and it was he who closed the debate by scoring into an empty net.
Reinhart was also an accomplice on Vladimir Tarasenko’s 20th goal of the season during a power play.
The Panthers’ other goal was Carter Verhaeghe, who has 32 so far.
Defender Brandon Montour was the author of three assists in this victory for the Panthers, who curbed a series of losses to four.
Panthers goaltender Anthony Stolarz was heading for his second shutout of the season when he was thwarted by Bobby Brink on a power play with 7:06 remaining as the Flyers pulled goaltender Felix Sandstrom for a sixth forward.
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