Evan Bouchard has come under fire for his defensive play in Monday's Game 1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings, but Edmonton Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch was quick to defend his No. 1 blue-liner.
"I saw Evan give us an excellent opportunity to win tonight, made a lot of nice plays," Knoblauch said postgame. "Was his game perfect? I'm not sure anybody's game was perfect tonight."
It was a game that likely made both coaches want to pull out their hair at certain points. The Kings held leads of 4-0 and 5-2. The Oilers stormed back to tie it up 5-5 with 1:28 remaining in the third period before Phillip Danault scored the game-winner with 42 seconds left.
The box score for Bouchard looks impressive: three assists and a plus-1 rating in a game-high 28:20.
However, Bouchard was on the ice for three of L.A.'s four five-on-five goals in the contest. He and partner Darnell Nurse left Adrian Kempe all alone in front of the net on the Kings' third goal. An errant pass from behind his own net led directly to the Kings' fourth goal. He was also out there for Danault's game-winner.
Bouchard was without his usual partner, Mattias Ekholm, who was ruled out for the entirety of Round 1 with an undisclosed injury. Ekholm has proven to be a perfect, stabilizing defensive presence for the offensively gifted Bouchard since arriving in Edmonton at the 2023 trade deadline.
"I think Evan's a very important part of our team," Knoblauch added. "Obviously, if we're going to have success, especially when we're missing one of our key defenseman, especially our top four (defensemen) really have to step up."
Bouchard ranked fifth among all NHL defensemen with 67 points in 82 games during the regular season. He finished fifth in Norris Trophy voting last year after racking up a career-high 82 points.
