Often times, when you look at a franchise’s golden years, there’s a series of occurrences that result in its ending. Both the Edmonton Oilers, and General Manager Stan Bowman, have seen this happen to them. The 1980’s Oilers didn’t begin their downfall, or end it, with the Wayne Gretzky trade. (Not-happy anniversary, by the way.) And the 2010’s Chicago Blackhawks that Bowman helmed didn’t start or end their downfall with the 2017 Nashville sweep.
The current era of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl is still very much alive, even if the mood isn’t well. But what if this observer told you that things could be far more bleak than they are currently? One game in particular from the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs nearly altered the trajectory of this franchise sooner—and potentially, for the worse.
It wasn’t Games 1 or 4 of the Stanley Cup Final, nor a Conference Final or even Second Round match. It was actually the Los Angeles Kings who had a chance to alter history. And it was none other than the “Bouchard Game” from that playoff run.
The 2025 Kings were maybe the best iteration of themselves this decade
The Oilers and Kings met in four consecutive playoff years, before the Hockey Gords finally decided to switch things up. In the first three installments of that saga, the Oilers had home-ice advantage. And in both 2023 and 2024, Edmonton required fewer games to own California hockey.
2025 was where the script flipped. The Kings, at home in the regular season, went an astounding 31–6–4. They finished with 105 points overall, finally securing that second-seed in the Pacific Division. Their young talent was taking a step in the right direction.
Darcy Kuemper was named to Team Canada’s 4 Nations Face-Off roster. Stalwarts Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty both staved off Father Time for one more year. As many things as could go right for Tinseltown, were going right. If ever there was a year they were going to have their first series win over Edmonton since 1989, last year should have been it.
Jim Hiller gifted the Oilers Game 3, but Game 4 had to be earned
Los Angeles indeed got off to a good start once the puck dropped on the series. Blown 5–1 Game 1 lead notwithstanding, the Kings led two games to none over Edmonton, heading up north. Stuart Skinner had been chased from the Oilers’ crease in favour of Calvin Pickard. The Oilers were still scoring, but the Kings were outscoring their orange-and-blue problem.
Many people point to Jim Hiller’s candidate for the worst Coach’s Challenge in NHL history in Game 3 as the turning point. Within the Kings fandom, the blunder evoked memories of Marty McSorley’s illegal stick in the 1993 Stanley Cup Final. However, the Jim Hiller challenge only cost them that one game, and unlike 1993, the Kings still led this series.
Adding on to this was the first 40 minutes of Game 4. Los Angeles, as they did all series, took control of the game early. Kuemper was at his best now, only allowing a Corey Perry net-front goal in the opening two periods. Clearly, the bad challenge had no effect on the Kings’ play.
All they had to do was play twenty more minutes of solid, heavy hockey, and they would head home with a three games to one series lead. And while teams have come back from that deficit before, remember the Kings’ advantage. Game 5, and any necessary Game 7, would be in Los Angeles. The Oilers did win Game 5 there ultimately, but probably aren’t as fortunate in a hypothetical Game 7.
Bouchard, Draisaitl, and the Oilers stars stepping up saved the team in that series
What ultimately played the biggest hand in the Kings’ downfall was Hiller’s lineup deployment. Young guns like Jordan Spence, Brandt Clarke, and Jacob Moverare hardly saw the ice at all in later periods in this series. It’s not 2014 anymore, and as good as Doughty and Kopitar were, over-relying on them and other veterans proved fatal.
Even so, amidst an Oilers onslaught in the third period, Los Angeles limited the damage to one goal against in the first 19 and a half minutes of that frame. Tactics would need to change for the Kings to get that elusive fourth win, but at least they’d get to three. And have three chances at that fourth victory.
If Quinton Byfield clears that puck to centre ice or just inside the Edmonton blue line, it’s likely game over. Bouchard, already with the earlier goal in that period, does what Bouchard does best and makes Byfield pay dearly for trying to play hero-puck. Tie game, off to Overtime.
The coup de grâce
Miraculously somehow, Draisaitl didn’t have a playoff OT winner coming into this game. Rogers Place, to this point, had only seen one Oilers playoff OT winner, which involved Draisaitl setting up Desharnais. Not Vincent, but David, Desharnais—in 2017.
The merits of the penalty called in that OT that led to this goal can be debated. However, it was still a penalty, and an already-exhausted Kings team proved no match for the Oilers power play. A Ryan Nugent-Hopkins shot leads to a McDavid tip, which leads to Perry causing havoc, which leads to the Kings “forgot about Drai.” Game, set, match.
The run that followed proved the Oilers, as currently built, have staying power
There was a distinct difference in the vibes post-Game 3 and post-Game 4. Game 3 felt like a good win, yet could be asterisked thanks to Hiller’s shenaniganery. Yeah, it was 2–1 now, but had the Oilers actually earned that victory? If Los Angeles kept playing the way they were playing, they would still win the series.
Game 4 was where the series was truly on now. The Oilers stared down a dagger, snatched it away from the Kings, and took command of the series. Instead of needing to win two road games, they only needed one, and they got that in Game 5. The Oilers would only lose two more games prior to the 2025 Stanley Cup Final.
Here’s where the what-if sinkhole opens up on the roadway. What if Bouchard doesn’t score two goals to tie the game? If Byfield clears the puck, and LA survives, what happens? What if the Kings won that series?
McDavid, remember, signed an extension on the eve of 2025–26’s Opening Night with no raise to his AAV. He might not have done so had the Oilers been coming off a first-round exit, instead of enjoying Western Conference supremacy. Does Skinner get traded in the offseason, and/or does any other roster player get traded?
Changes came this offseason anyway, but they felt more like course correction measures. What could have happened last summer might have entailed staring down a different future altogether, worst-case. But because the team rallied, and fought through adversity, it is still largely intact today. Game 4 ultimately was an inflection point, and though it was no 2006 triple-overtime, or 90’s Game 7 takedowns of Dallas or Colorado, it’s one that quietly solidified the McDavid-Draisaitl era of Oilers hockey.
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
