EDMONTON – “I liked our effort. We had an important penalty kill…it carried a lot of momentum for us.”

Losing is hard. 

What makes Monday night’s loss even harder to stomach for the Edmonton Oilers was just how close they were to winning it.

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The team seemed like they were down and out. The Oilers were in a 4-1 hole to begin the third period against the Los Angeles Kings. And that’s when the comeback began.

Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch liked the effort from his team in the third period, especially from his superstars, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.

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“Connor and Leon made some really good plays to get us back in that game,” Knoblauch said in his postgame scrum. “Five on five I thought we had a lot of time in the offensive zone (but) didn’t get enough chances. Some breakdowns that led to goals against.”

Those two weren’t the only pieces helping to push the boulder up the hill. Defenseman Evan Bouchard contributed heavily to the team’s impressive comeback. The offensively gifted rearguard played 28:20 and pitched in three assists.

One of his assists came on Draisaitl’s goal, which got the team moving in the right direction. His second assist was on Corey Perry’s goal to make it a 5-3 game. Bouchard’s final assist came on McDavid’s game-tying goal. 

Evan Bouchard's Play In Oilers Loss & His Importance To The Team

Knoblauch was asked about needing better defense from Bouchard, especially with Mattias Ekholm out of the lineup.

“I can’t comment on that. I don’t know the breakdowns,” Knoblauch said, refusing to throw his star defender under the bus. 

“I saw Evan give us an excellent opportunity to win tonight,” Knoblauch reasoned. “He made a lot of nice plays, was his game perfect? I’m not sure anyone’s game was perfect tonight.”

“I think Evan’s a very important part of our team.” 

Knoblauch knows better than to publicly call out one of his best players. The coach knows better than anyone that the players are hard enough on themselves, he doesn’t need to add to that.

However, Knoblauch also recognizes that for the Oilers to win this series, everyone on the team – especially on defense – has to play better.

“If we are going to have success, especially when we are missing one of our key defensemen. All of those (defenders) - especially our top four really have to step up.”

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