Hyman could write fairy tale ending to another book if Oilers complete comeback

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On the longest day of the year, it wasn’t a long night for the Edmonton Oilers.

And, now we have the two best words in hockey.

Game 7.

Something that hockey’s best children’s author Zach Hyman may use as his theme when he finds time to craft a fourth book, after his wonderful breakaway goal late in the second period Friday gave him 16 playoff goals — the most in almost 30 years — when Joe Sakic had 18 in 1996 during Colorado’s run to the Stanley Cup win over Florida.

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So, that brave line from Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch with his team down three games to Florida that “hopefully Zach Hyman can write a storybook about this when it’s all said and done” now looks courageous as much as prescient after the Oilers 5-1 win over the Panthers.

But, Hyman knows there’s one final chapter to go, Monday in Florida.

“It’s not a good story unless you finish it,” said Hyman.

“I don’t think many teams have come back from 0-3 and as I’ve said I didn’t think we deserved to be there, but there’s no moral victories in hockey. We’ve climbed ourselves out of the hole and we’re right there.”

What’s more cool?

That Hyman and the Oilers are in a Game 7, or how they got to this point?

“Well, it’s not a fun stat to be down 0-3. Now we’ve got an opportunity to do something unbelievable, to do something really, really special. But like I keep saying, nobody’s getting ahead of themselves here. I don’t know if we’ve got momentum but we do have belief. Everybody likes to watch sports and what’s going on right now because the unthinkable might happen,” said Hyman.

Hyman hadn’t scored in the first four games of the Stanley Cup Final, but had Evan Bouchard’s point shot blast rip off his shin-pad and by Bobrovsky in Game 5 on the power play, and the breakaway showed another side of him — inspiration and perspiration.

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“What I learned early in my career is to just keep playing your game. Some games you’re going to score, others you’re not. You can’t lose confidence because the puck’s not going in,” said Hyman.

“Tonight, Nuggy (Ryan Nugent-Hopkins) makes a great block and he puts it on a tee for me.”

And now he’s close to Sakic’s 18. In any other year, he might be the Conn Smythe favourite, but this is Connor McDavid’s MVP.

“That’s, uh, crazy (Sakic in same sentence),” said Hyman.

The Hyman breakaway made it 3-0, and his effort, skating 150 feet, digging in as Panthers defenceman Gustav Forsling tried to cut him off with a diving stick, and then beating Sergei Bobrovsky to the blocker side, was a signature “We Believe” moment.

Hyman isn’t McDavid but he wasn’t being caught.

“Obviously, it’s a huge goal. It’s 2-0 at the time and that next goal, whoever scores it, it’s a one-goal game or a three goal game. So especially at the end of the period, you’re a lot closer (to a big advantage when you get that one),” he said.

He skated a long way, eating up the ice, before his celebration.

What was he thinking. Deke? Shoot?

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“It didn’t feel so long in the moment. I didn’t have much time to think (of a move) when I got it. I was at the hash marks. I obviously settled it and made a move and beat him,” he said.

Again, 70 goals (including playoffs) this season is a staggering feat.

If he’s not on Canada’s Four Nations team next February, and then maybe the Olympic side in 2026, on whatever line, and maybe as a net-front on the power play, there’s something very wrong with the selection process.

“He’s extremely powerful. He can get out of the blocks fast and what I would say most is… he’s determined. He’s a strong guy and he showed how he can skate,” said Nugent-Hopkins, who had Leon Draisaitl second that emotion.

“He’s a hell of a hockey player, very unique. He’s like a little bull. He jumps out of the gate like nobody can. His first couple of strides are so powerful and I think you really saw it on the goal,” said Draisaitl.

“He just explodes out of there and he’s gone and he’s calm and collected in front of net. Just knows where to go.”

Scoring like Hyman did, getting to Game 7, it’s eye-popping.

“Of course, this is what you dream of as a kid. I mean, this is once-in-a-lifetime. We’ve got five boys in our family and we always played road hockey, whatever age, with our buddies. Most times we’d make up a Game 7 (scenario),” said Hyman.

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Nothing like this one, though.

One game left.

“The belief in the room was we can do this, we stayed steadfast, and the belief outside the room was, ‘these guys are done.’ And then you win a game and the belief outside the room grows and you win another game and it’s like, well, they can’t lose at home now (Game 6),” said Hyman.

“I think the message has been, that it’s been hard all year. I think it’s almost fitting we were in that spot (down 0-3). We just felt that if there was ever a team that could crawl out of it, we believed it could be us, the way the season’s gone.”

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