Bouchard bounces back quickly to net OT winner for Oilers

EDMONTON — Just one game after taking the bulk of the blame for an overtime loss, Evan Bouchard bounced back big time and provided his team with an overtime win.

Bouchard coughed up the puck on a couple of goals and then blew coverage in overtime as the New York Rangers came back from a 3-1 deficit to beat 4-3 over Edmonton on Thursday. But Saturday was a completely different story as he scored on his own rebound in overtime against the Chicago Blackhawks and added an assist in regulation as the Oilers won 3-2.

The 26-year-old Oilers defenceman said it helped that they caught the Hawks flat-footed with a good change in extra time.

“When you get a tired group with Connor (McDavid) and Leon (Draisaitl) out there, they’re going to make the play,” he said. “I just tried to get open, Leon made a good pass and it went in.”

Bouchard said it was a relief to exorcise some of his defensive demons so quickly after taking so much heat for Thursday’s collapse.

“You’ve got to learn and move on from it. It’s far from a perfect game,” he said. “I can definitely clean some more things up, but I am glad I got one and contributed offensively.”

Captain McDavid, who assisted on all three goals, was particularly pleased to see Bouchard get some quick redemption.

“You guys (media) can say what you want about him, we love him in there and we know his best is among the very, very, very best,” he said. “We got his back no matter what’s going on. His play can be better, everyone’s play can be better, but I’m really happy for him to get that big goal and quiet some people a little bit.”

Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said Bouchard has taken his tough start to the season to heart and is working hard to get back to being much more reliable.

“I know his game has been frustrating to himself. It’s not like he has been like ‘whatever’ and shrugging his shoulders. That’s not the case with Evan,” Knoblauch said.

“He feels, and so do we, that he can be one of the best defencemen in the NHL every night. He wasn’t playing like that, but tonight was more of what I am familiar with. He made some nice plays, the power play went two-for-two and he has a lot to do with that, and he gets the overtime winner.

“Obviously, he has a lot of attention on the mistakes that he has made and hopefully he feels good and gets some recognition for the overtime winner tonight.”

Draisaitl had a goal and an assist and Jack Roslovic also scored for the Oilers (6-4-3), who have won two of their last three.

Draisaitl extended his points streak against Chicago to 19 games, dating to Oct. 28, 2018, the longest active streak by any player in the NHL against a single team. During that stretch he has amassed an impressive 15 goals and 22 assists. Draisaitl is also in the midst of an eight-game overall points streak, with six goals and six assists over that span.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins played in his 972nd career game as an Oiler, passing Ryan Smyth for the second most in franchise history. Nugent-Hopkins is off to a strong start to the season, adding an assist against the Hawks to hit 13 points in 13 games.

Stuart Skinner registered 27 saves to collect the win in net for Edmonton.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 1, 2025.

Shane Jones, The Canadian Press