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LAS VEGAS, NV - The Edmonton Oilers have their Hype Man.
Zach Hyman notched a pair of goals on Friday night in Sin City to make it five goals in five games to begin his Oilers tenure as the club earned their fifth-straight victory to start the 2021-22 NHL campaign with a 5-3 win over the Vegas Golden Knights.
Playing the second of back-to-back games as part of their first road trip of the campaign, the Oilers stole the show with an early statement win over their Pacific Division opponents.
Zack Kassian slid the game-winning goal through the legs of Golden Knights netminder Robin Lehner on a breakaway 4:33 into the final frame. Mikko Koskinen turned in his third-straight victory, making 36 saves on 39 shots.
Leon Draisaitl recorded two goals and an assist to increase his early-season returns to 11 points in five games, while Connor McDavid's two assists on the night place him first overall for points in the NHL above the German with six goals and seven helpers.

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GAME DAY

Oilers at Golden Knights
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FIRST BLOOD

The Golden Knights got on the board first for the fourth time in their opening four games this season just 3:34 into the first period. Zach Whitecloud's shot from the blueline found a seam through traffic, and Nicholas Roy put a good deflection on the effort to send the puck back across Koskinen and into the top-right corner.

PLAY OF THE GAME

After Hyman willed the puck over the goal line for the equalizing goal on the powerplay in the first period, the winger showed his ability to shoot from distance with power, ripping McDavid's feed bar down from the slot 1:30 after the Golden Knights restored their lead in the opening two minutes of the middle frame.

SAVE OF THE GAME

Koskinen looked poised in goal over the full 60 minutes, making his biggest save with a point-blank stop on Reilly Smith that kept the game even at 1-1 with 8:25 to go in the opening period.
Since relieving an injured Mike Smith in the second period of Edmonton's 6-5 win over the Anaheim Ducks this past Tuesday, the Finn has been brilliant in the crease, earning the victory in all three games with 83 saves on 88 shots.

TURNING POINT

Trailing 2-1 after Nolan Patrick delivered another deft deflection for the Golden Knights 1:35 into the second period, the Oilers fought their way back and leveled the score quickly taking the lead. Hyman ripped home the equalizer a minute and a half after Vegas forged ahead before Ryan Nugent-Hopkins fed a loose puck to Draisaitl 72 seconds later to flip the scoreline to 3-2 in favour of Edmonton.

Draisaitl scores 2 goals and earns an assist in win

TOP PERFORMER

The Hyman works in multiple, mystical ways. Two equalizing tallies for Hyman tonight against Vegas pushed his season total up to five goals in five games, and four during this brief road trip -- a two-game stretch where the impactful off-season addition scored twice on the powerplay, once shorthanded, and another at even strength. Talk about versatility.

FACT CHECK

Two assists for McDavid tonight marked the captain's fifth-straight multi-point game to begin the year as he became only the 12th player in NHL history to have more than a point in his opening five contests.
Nugent-Hopkins recorded his 300th career assist on Draisaitl's go-ahead goal in the second period, while the secondary assist awarded to Kris Russell was number 200 of the veteran defender's career.

PARTING WORDS

Kassian on his team's ability to bounce back at multiple stages of the game after Vegas carried the momentum:
"They come out hard. I think in the first period, we were overwhelmed. Their forecheck was good, they were zooming around in the o-zone all over us, but I think our special teams won us the period. Obviously, a big 5-on-3 kill, and then the big power-play goal that got us moving. The second was better. But all in all, there's a lot of things for us to learn still. But as a group, we found a way to win, and that's a positive."
Kassian on Hyman's addition and the impact he's provided in the opening five games:
"He's been huge. He works so hard it's contagious. he just works hard, works smart, he's first onto pucks, and his nose is always over the puck. He competes. You saw in Phoenix and even tonight, he can shoot the puck and he can score goals. He's been a great pickup for us and he's going to help us out tremendously. Like I said, just the work ethic alone is contagious for our group when you see a guy like that who can play up the lineup. When he works like that, there's no reason why the rest of the group can't follow."
Kassian on Koskinen's demeanour and stellar play over the last three games:
"Mikko's been great. He's been awesome. Like we've always said, we feel like we have two great goaltenders. Obviously, you never want to see Schmitty go down, but we know that Mikko is fully capable of leading this team. I think he's shown that in the last two games. He's been phenomenal. He's been rock-solid, and that's what you want from your goaltender. It's nice to see him back having fun again. Obviously, it was a tough year for him away from his family and whatnot, but I think it's safe to say he's back and enjoying himself and playing his game.
Kassian on the five-hole move he chose on the game-winning breakaway goal:
"Any time I get a breakaway, I just black out. I don't even know what I'm going to do, but sometimes I do. Just kidding. I knew he's a big guy. His pads are going to be sprawling, so you wither want to get it up or I thought maybe if I could open him up, slide it five-hole. Luckily enough, it went five-hole."
Coach Tippett on his assessment of the game and his teams' ability to respond to Vegas pressure:
"I thought in the first period, they definitely had lots of jump. You could tell that they had a purpose to come out and start strong with us having played last night. They put a lot of pressure on us. We turned some pucks over to accentuate that pressure a little bit, and then our powerplay got us a big goal there to get us even and get our feet under us.
"Second period, we were much better. Our powerplay had some great chances that wouldn't go in the net, and in the third period, it was kind of a see-saw. We give up one on a faceoff, and then Kass gets a big goal. You could tell there was some fatigue in our group, but we hung in there. Koski hung in there and played very well, and we were able to get the win."

POST-RAW | Mikko Koskinen 10.22.21

Tippett on Kassian's drive to begin the year and getting rewarded with a big goal:
"He's been excellent since the start of Camp. He came in in great shape and he's playing with purpose; a real purpose. I think he felt bad about the penalty that he took there in the third. Our guys did a good job killing it, and then he turns around and gets a big goal. So if he's having a year like that where things are going right for him, it's good to see."
Tippett on shuffling the forward lines and Evan Bouchard's play on the top pairing with Darnell Nurse:
"He was excellent. He's a really good young player. He was excellent for us. These two games are kind of a team-building trip for us, so I wanted to make sure everybody played. The three guys that sat out last night all played tonight, so we want to make sure everybody feels a part of it. We have a really good group in there. They're a group who cares about each other, works hard, and we don't want to exclude anybody from that, so those guys jumped in and all did a pretty good job."
Koskinen on the way the last three games have unfolded for the team and himself in the Oilers net:
"Overall, it's been a great 24 hours. We got what we wanted, four points, and I think we showed a lot of character tonight. It wasn't an easy game for us, but we got a big win."
Koskinen on starting back-to-back games and a busy night around his crease:
"It's not too bad. We landed here pretty early and we got plenty of time to sleep in today. I think the most important thing is the sleep when you play back-to-back games, and looks like everyone got enough sleep to get the win."
Koskinen on his team showing resiliency in the face of Vegas pressure and answering back:
"I think that was huge. We knew that they were going to start hard and put the pressure on. That's exactly what happened. I think they scored a goal early in every period, so we couldn't manage that quite like we wanted, but we responded well and that's all that matters in the end."
Koskinen on the team-building in Vegas this weekend going to an NFL game on Sunday and a team golf tournament:
"I think it's going to be really good for our team getting together a little bit spending some time together. It's going to be my second NFL game live, so I'm pretty excited about that. Hopefully we're going to enjoy it (together).
"(the golf swing) is not very good. I don't think my partner can call on me too much... I usually go once or twice, so not too often."