When Evan Bouchard coughed up a puck behind the Edmonton Oilers halfway through the second period of their 4-3 OT loss to the Buffalo Sabres, the reaction was swift.

Tage Thompson had all the time in the world to beat Stuart Skinner, and the pitchforks were out. The Bouchard haters surfaced. Everybody was ready to declare his chances of making the Canadian Olympic roster Dead On Arrival.

“Evan Bouchard’s Team Canada chances were on life support and this giveaway might be the final blow,” opined one popular X account.

You can imagine what the response to it was, as those who haven’t been paying attention to his game took aim. But this was just Side One, and when you Flip it and look at his recent body of work, you’ll see it’s the fan Favourite Record it’s always been.

In fact, if you look at his numbers in Edmonton’s 18 games since the start of November, you’ll see Bouchard’s back to his usual dominant ways. With him on the ice at five-on-five, the Oilers have outscored the opposition 22-15 for a 59.5 percent goal share and a +7 mark that’s tied for ninth-best among 187 defencemen with over 157 minutes — half of what Bouchard has played — over that stretch.

Those 22 goals are tied for the fourth-most among 25 different goal numbers for the defencemen,, while the 15 goals against are the 13th-fewest among 21 different goal numbers. On a per hour rate among the same defencemen, his 4.18 goals for per hour rank fourth among 139 different goal numbers, while his 2.85 goals against per hour are tied for 98th among 136 different goal numbers.

That paints a picture of how impactful Bouchard has been compared to other blue liners around the league, but how do those goal numbers shape up with the rest of the Oilers roster? I’m glad you asked.

In nearly every major underlying statistical category (shot share, goal share, expected goal share, scoring chance share, high-danger scoring chance share and high-danger goal share), the Oilers’ numbers are significant better with him on the ice than off, and defensively, are at worst, slightly below league average.

To put it simply, the Oilers are among the best teams in the league over this stretch with Bouchard on the ice, and among the worst with him off the ice. And before you ask, these aren’t just boosted by him playing with Connor McDavid. While it helps, since November 1st his shot rates and goal rates are as strong with McDavid, playing 9:29 per night at five-on-five, as they are without him in 8:02 per night.

So how does a coach handle a blunder like that?

“Mostly a conversation the next day about what had happened on the play,” said Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch after the game. “You know, to tear a strip off him in between periods or on the bench, I don’t think is productive.

“He knows he made a mistake. He knows that that’s not the right play. It’d be a different if Evan didn’t care, if Evan didn’t feel that he… a mistake. But he (has) pretty good self awareness that he understands what happened on the play.”

Bouchard isn’t solely to blame for the Oilers getting down 3-0 to the lowly Sabres, as Edmonton’s apathetic play through two periods cost them. Even on the aforementioned goal against, the three closest skaters to Bouchard were within feet, and all three were Buffalo Sabres. Talk about being hung out to dry.

The Oilers were able to battle back, at the very least, securing one point in thanks to McDavid scoring two beauties and Vasily Podkolzin banging one in, but third period penalties and another defensive miscue in overtime cost them.

“You’d like to play full 60, especially with the way that we’ve been trending — it’s been in the right direction,” said Zach Hyman. “First 40 wasn’t great, but I really like the group’s pushback.

“It’s easy (when) you’re down through nothing to just go away and write the game off. But we didn’t do that. We scored on the first shift and then another one in the next two minutes and you’re right back in the game. And you crawl yourself a point out of a game where you put yourself in a hole, so I think that’s a positive.”

The Oilers wrap their five-game homestand Thursday night against the Detroit Red Wings where a win ahead of a five-game road trip will be key.

Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s associate editor, senior columnist, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the Daily Faceoff DFS Hockey Report. He can be followed on X at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.