Former Michigan forward makes history, helping Oilers force Game 7 in Cup final

Former Michigan forward Zach Hyman and the Edmonton Oilers are just one win away from making history.

Only four teams in NHL history have overcome a 3-0 deficit to win a seven-game series, but the Oilers have a chance to become the fifth after beating the Florida Panthers 5-1 at home in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final on Friday.

Hyman, a 2010 fifth-round pick out of Florida who never played for the Panthers, scored a backhand breakaway goal in the second period to give Edmonton a 3-0 lead. It was his 16th goal of the playoffs and set a new record for most goals in a single postseason in the salary cap era, surpassing Sidney Crosby (2009) and Alex Ovechkin (2018), who both scored 15 goals in the postseason.

Before Monday’s seventh game in Florida, Hyman is just three goals away from the all-time record set by Reggie Leach with the Philadelphia Flyers in 1976.

This year, Hyman became the first former Wolverine to record a 50-goal season, finishing with 54, which ranked third in the NHL. Before signing a seven-year, $38.5 million contract with Edmonton ahead of the 2021-22 season, the Toronto native had never scored more than 21 goals in his first six years in the league.

At Michigan from 2011 to 2014, Hyman scored 35 goals in 151 games over the course of his four-year career.

Edmonton was outscored 11-4 in the first three games of the series. It has outscored the Panthers 18-5 in the last three games. The 1942 Maple Leafs are the only other team to come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a Cup final.

Hyman also scored a point in Game 5 and has 22 points in 24 games this postseason.