'Devastated for him': Oilers captain Connor McDavid talks Hyman injury, Perry's age and more ahead of Game 5

Beyond Zach Hyman himself, there may not be anybody more broken up by the winger’s wrist injury than his center iceman, Connor McDavid.

The pair have been nearly inseparable on the ice over the last four years — in the playoffs, since Hyman arrived, he has spent 64 percent of his five-on-five ice time with McDavid. The results have always been rock-solid for them, outscoring the opposition 50-27 and outright dominating their opponents.

But now, McDavid and the rest of the Oilers will have to adjust to life without their workhorse — even though they can take solace knowing their best all-around defenseman, Mattias Ekholm, is set to return to the lineup.

“It’s extremely disappointing to lose Hy,” McDavid said  Thursday ahead of Game 5. “Devastated for him, obviously.

“That’s a guy who wants to be out there, wants to make a difference, so we’ll miss him a lot, but it’s great to see Ekky come back. He’s put in a lot of hard work to get to this point — credit to him, credit to the training staff for getting him back.”

With Hyman out, the Oilers have had to mix up their lines a little bit, but McDavid will have a pair of familiar faces flanking him: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Corey Perry.

The trio found themselves together during Game 4 after Hyman went down, and the results were promising. In their six minutes and 25 seconds of five-on-five ice-time together, the Oilers outshot the Stars 8-1, six of which were scoring chances and two were from high-danger areas. Yeah, not bad.

While they haven’t seen the ice together before that, beyond 34 power play minutes in these playoffs, they have all the right blend that can make it work. McDavid is McDavid, of course, but the other two are playing some incredibly impressive hockey.

And don’t tell anyone about how old Perry is.

“He’s been great,” said McDavid. “A lot is made about how hold he is, but he’s still playing like he’s in his prime. He’s producing, scoring big goals, getting under their skin, getting on the forecheck, doing all the things that we need at this time of year.

“It’s been really impressive to see.”

What else is really impressive to see is the return of Ekholm to the lineup, considering a report at the end of the regular season made it seem as if he would be done for the year. Injured in late March and re-injured in a mid-April game against the San Jose Sharks, the Oilers have had to turn to other players to help fill in on the blue line.

One of which was Troy Stecher, who drew in for six games, filling in admirably. Just days ago Stecher himself admitted he knew he was likely to come out of the lineup when Ekholm was ready to return — something that McDavid highlighted Thursday.

“I think his words there, I think everybody resonates with that — anything to win — and Stech has been great, not deserving at all of coming out of the lineup, but that’s the reality when you got good players all over,” he said. “Incredible teammate, disappointing for him, obviously, but when you get a guy like Ekholm back, it is what it is.”

Game 5 between the Oilers and Stars goes Thursday night at 8 p.m. ET.