The Edmonton Oilers wrapped up their five-game homestand with an impressive 4-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings at Rogers Place on Thursday (Dec. 11) evening.
Related: Hyman’s Hat Trick Lifts Oilers to 4-1 Win Over Red Wings
Oilers forward Zach Hyman recorded a hat trick while defenceman Mattias Ekholm scored the winning goal for Edmonton. Detroit got its lone goal from blueliner Simon Edvinsson.
Goaltender Stuart Skinner made 27 saves to backstop the Oilers to victory. Detroit’s Cam Talbot stopped 25 of the 28 shots he faced between the pipes.
Edmonton’s record improves to 14-11-6. With 34 points, the Oilers now sit fourth in the Pacific Division standings and occupy the Western Conference’s first wild card playoff spot.
Textbook Win for Oilers
The Oilers played a sound game from start to finish, avoiding the lapses that have been such a thorn in their side this season.
Edmonton opened the scoring, going ahead 1-0 when Hyman scored with the man advantage at 14:25 of the first period, and never relinquished the lead from that moment on, maintaining a firm grip on the game.
Ekholm’s third goal of the season gave the Oilers a 2-0 lead early in the second period. Edvinsson scored at 5:41 of the middle frame to cut Detroit’s deficit in half, but Hyman restored a two-goal lead for the Oilers before the intermission.
Edmonton locked things down in the third period, and Hyman put the game away by scoring at 18:43 with Talbot pulled for the extra attacker.
The Oilers were composed and controlled throughout, exactly what you’d expect to see from a veteran team coming off back-to-back runs to the Stanley Cup Final. As Edmonton fans know, however, such a performance has been rare in 2025-26 until very recently.
Before this five-game homestand, the Oilers had scored first and led the rest of the game only once at Rogers Place this season. They’ve now done it on four occasions, including in three of their last four games.
It’s taken a while, but as the mid-point of the 2025-26 NHL season approaches, Edmonton finally seems to be rounding into form.
Skinner Stands Tall
Skinner had another excellent game on Thursday, stopping all the shots he should and maybe taking a goal or two away from Detroit as well.
This was the third time in Skinner’s last five starts that he’s allowed less than two goals. Before this current stretch, he had allowed fewer than two goals only twice in his first 18 starts of the season.
Skinner boasts a goals-against-average (GAA) of 1.61 and save percentage (SV%) of .937 over his last five games, which are marked improvements from the 3.18 GAA and .878 SV% he posted over his first 18 appearances.
The 27-year-old netminder does look sharper, but his excellent recent numbers are also a reflection of Edmonton’s good defensive play, just as his poor statistics from earlier in the season owed to the Oilers’ shoddy play in front of him.
“Honestly, this might sound crazy, but it’s the same stuff I felt at the beginning of the season,” Skinner said following the game when he was asked what he’s been feeling during his current run of strong starts. “I’ve been feeling good. I feel like my game’s in a pretty good spot right now.”
Breakout Game from Hyman
Hyman missed Edmonton’s first 19 games this season as he continued to rehab from surgery for a fractured wrist that he sustained during the 2025 Western Conference Final series. Since returning to action, the winger had struggled to find the back of the net, scoring only twice in his first 11 games.
In one night on Thursday, Hyman more than doubled his season goal total, scoring on the power play, at even-strength, and into an empty net for his sixth career hat trick. At 33 years and 185 days, he became the second-oldest player to score a hat trick for the Oilers (Derek Ryan holds the record, at 35 years and 59 days).
This was the breakout performance that the Oilers have been waiting for from Hyman, who scored 54 times in 2023-24. If Edmonton is going to make it to the championship series for a third consecutive postseason, the Oilers need Hyman to be at his peak, and the forward is looking a lot more like his old self, totalling five goals, two assists, and 18 shots on goal over the last six games. He blasted seven shots on goal against the Red Wings and had nine shot attempts total.
“That’s an impressive man right there,” Skinner raved about Hyman after the game. “The grit and strength it takes, obviously physically but more so mentally, just to fight through something like that. We all know from experience how tough it can be, and for him being out as long as he was and the type of injury. It’s pretty incredible what we saw a few months ago, and then seeing him now and he’s got a hatty. It’s quite impressive.”
The Oilers would love to see another big night from Hyman when they open their five-game road trip on Saturday (Dec. 13) with a date in his hometown against his former team, the Toronto Maple Leafs.
