NEW YORK – Evan Bouchard arguably had one of the worst games of his NHL career during the Edmonton Oilers’ loss to the New York Islanders on Thursday night.
The mistakes he made led directly to two goals against, and he had several other giveaways and errors that led to quality scoring chances.
“I’m going to have to get better at that,” Bouchard said. “You learn from it – obviously a lot of learning. Yes, part of the game is forgetting the good and the bad, so move on, be ready for the next game.”
Bouchard is the fourth-highest paid defenseman in the NHL and tied for 14th among all players with a salary cap hit of $10.5 million, and he’s well worth that price tag when he’s creating more offense for his team than his opponents. His 72 points over the last three playoffs are 40 more than the closest player at the position.
“I know people can be hard on him because of his mistakes, but you also have to look at the positive side of what he brings,” said his defense partner Mattias Ekholm. “I’m sure he knows he could have made other decisions tonight, but I know there are other games and you saw the other night when he just shoots his attacker and makes everyone look stupid and things I wouldn’t even think about. I’d be careful to criticize him because that’s who he is.”
Bouchard had the puck on his stick in the neutral zone late in the first period under little pressure and inexplicably had it stolen by Mat Barzal, who burst over Stuart Skinner for his first goal since January.
“It’s just a bad play on my part,” Bouchard said.
Late in the second period, with Edmonton on the power play, Bouchard was in no-man’s land when Bo Horvat got behind him and scored shorthanded.
“I thought I would be able to guard him if (Islanders penalty killer Jean-Gabriel Pageau) crushed him against the wall,” Bouchard said. “Obviously he didn’t do that.”
When the game was broadcast on ESPN+, color analyst Ray Ferraro, a longtime league forward with more than 1,300 games of experience, called the matchup between the benches “two periods as bad as I’ve seen an NHL player play.”
After the game, a 4-2 loss that was New York’s first win of the season, Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch deadpanned, “I’ve seen Evan play better.”
“We can’t just accept this,” Knoblauch said. “Mistakes happen, but you have to know what types of mistakes happen. Evan is a fantastic player, one of the best in the league, definitely one of the best defensemen in the NHL. Tonight wasn’t his night, but I’ve always seen him respond and play a lot better after games like this.”
It also didn’t come at the right time, with Tampa Bay general manager Julien BriseBois – a member of Hockey Canada’s executive staff – watching in person. Bouchard finds it extremely difficult to make the Olympic team, especially because of his tendency to turn the puck over.
Ekholm, who is usually the safety valve to compensate for mistakes Bouchard makes, said one of the soon-to-be 26-year-old’s superpowers is his ability to forget quickly. His coach noticed it during his back-to-back trips to the Stanley Cup Finals and many other times.
“I usually see him bounce right back after a bad shift, maybe a turnover, and he doesn’t mind, and he makes the next play the next time,” Knoblauch said. “But we’re going to move on. We can’t dwell on it too much. We have to learn from the things that happened. Evan is one of our best players, and we have to make him play like one of our best.”
Bouchard said his teammates constantly told him during games like this to “keep playing.” Ekholm is confident those games will take place on Saturday against the New Jersey Devils.
“I’m pretty sure we’ll see a different Bouchard,” Ekholm said. “I am sure he will come back with force and vengeance.”
