Edmonton Oilers star center Leon Draisaitl lauded his teammate Evan Bouchard’s efforts during Game 4 of the first-round playoff series against the Los Angeles Kings. The Oilers came from behind to win the game 4-3 in overtime and level the series 2-2.
Draisaitl scored the game-winner at 18:18 in overtime, while Bouchard scored twice in regulation to tie the game.
Leon Draisaitl Praises Evan Bouchard in Postgame Interview
Appearing in an interview on NHL TNT’s Postgame show on Sunday, April 27, Draisaitl talked about the Oilers’ epic comeback in front of a packed home crowd at Rogers Place. He also complimented Bouchard’s game-tying goal, which was scored with 29 seconds left on the clock.
“I mean, it’s Buchi. He’s a genius out there. He makes so many amazing plays. His hockey sense is off the charts. And obviously, that’s a game saver, right there, to keep that in and knock it out of the air. Very, very fortunate to have him with us,” Draisaitl said.
Leon Draisaitl talks to the boys after his OT heroics to tie the series for the Oilers 👏 pic.twitter.com/VBnnggEBWQ
— NHLonTNT (@NHL_On_TNT) April 28, 2025
The Kings went 2-0 and 3-1 up during the game before Bouchard found the back of the net twice in the third period to take the game into overtime. Draisaitl, who also had three assists, won the game with his first-ever Stanley Cup playoff overtime goal after the puck rebounded off Kings’ goalie Darcy Kuemper during a power play.
“That’s our identity in here, we’ve built that years ago,” Draisaitl said via NHL.com. “It’s a mentality that we have, that we’re never going to quit no matter what. We’ve shown that in the series so far, maybe a little bit too much. We’ve got to find a way to play with a lead. It shows a lot of character, and we can be really proud of that, but you don’t want to do that every night.”
Calvin Pickard started between the pipes for the Oilers for the second game in a row and made 38 saves on the night.
The Kings had won the first two games in the series and were looking to extend their lead before heading back to home ice for Game 5.
“We were skating,” Los Angeles coach Jim Hiller said. “I thought we skated all game. It’s something we wanted to do to improve upon. I thought we skated a lot better tonight than we did in Game 3 (a 7-4 loss on Friday) and had plenty of opportunities to put it away and did not. So, here we are. We go home 2-2 instead. They get a power play in overtime. Those are tough.”
The best-of-7 series is tied 2-2. Game 5 is in Los Angeles on Tuesday, April 29. (10 p.m. ET, FDSNW, MAX, TBS, TVAS2, SN, CBC).