EDMONTON — These are the nights when you wonder how Evan Bouchard doesn’t make every team that ever was picked.
Olympic teams, 4 Nations, all-stars, whatever… Any guy who can deliver a hat trick in a six-point game, finishing at plus-5 while setting up or scoring every goal in a 6-5 win…
Well, how many defencemen do you know who can even dream of doing something like that?
“I’m going to make sure my kids watch that tomorrow morning,” promised Bouchard’s D partner Mattias Ekholm. “I mean, who can do that in the league today, or even historically? That’s a game where he wins it for us, really.
“If you’re a kid out there and you want to be an offensive defenceman, make sure you watch that game.”
On a night where Connor McDavid busted out of a two-game pointless drought with five points, he was only the second star. That was because Bouchard scored Edmonton’s first three goals, added two third-period assists as the Oilers battled back to tie the game three separate times in the third — including Zach Hyman’s tying goal with the goalie pulled and 32 seconds to play.
Bouchard was in on all of it.
“As good a game as I’ve seen from a D-man,” McDavid said. “You know, that’s his level. His best is among the best in the world. Not just D-men. Players.”
Bouchard, playing his 400th NHL game, sent McDavid in alone for the overtime winner, a loud night for a quiet guy from Oakville, Ont. Bouchard — whose trademark is being almost devoid of emotion — calmly took the Capitals apart, play after play after play.
“I guess that’s kind of how I’ve always been. I try to stay even keel,” the 26-year-old said. “The highs and lows of the game are definitely a thing, but as long as you can keep it even keel, it usually works out for the best.”
Sure, there are games where Bouchard’s mistakes are just as impactful as his offensive impact in games like Saturday’s. But none of it stays with him; there is no error that causes him to tamp down his offensive game on the next shift.
“I’ve always said his biggest superpower is that it just falls off of him. He doesn’t linger on things,” Ekholm said. “He’ll make a mistake, but he’s right back out the next shift and does his thing. You saw it tonight, you see it most nights. Some nights it’s not going to go his way, and when that happens, maybe think back to this one because in my opinion, he does far more good ones than bad ones.”
Only Paul Coffey (twice) and Kevin Lowe have ever piled up six points as an Oilers defenceman. Add Bouchard to that list, after he pulled into a three-way tie atop the NHL’s defencemen scoring list with 55 points, alongside Zach Werenski and Cale Makar.
You can say what you want about his defensive game. The team Bouchard leads in minutes has gone to back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals.
This season may have started out a tad rough, but now Bouchard is on pace for a career high in points.
“I think you’re being polite on his first couple of games being rough,” said his coach, Kris Knoblauch. “Maybe after Game 15, he started to get some traction and find his way. He’s been phenomenal the last two or three months — in my opinion, he’s one of the best defencemen in the league.
“And another thing we don’t talk about is how good a penalty killer he is. He breaks up a lot of plays, and he reads it. When you see an offensive defenceman, you don’t think they can kill penalties, but he’s fabulous at it.”
A team that hasn’t won three straight all season long came within a shot of its first three-game losing streak since October. Edmonton’s game rebounded somewhat, but this one was obviously up for grabs, with Hyman’s late goal and McDavid’s OT winner.
“I thought, actually, we were good,” McDavid said. “I thought we were the better team — we were unlucky to be down at times. We just kind of stuck with it again. Not the prettiest of wins, but one that we needed.”
OIL SPILLS — McDavid’s goal was career goal No. 392, tying him for fifth on the Oilers’ all-time list with Mark Messier. Next up, Glenn Anderson at 417 … He pulls ahead of Nathan MacKinnon atop the NHL scoring race, 90 points to 87.
