Ryan Nugent-Hopkins also scored, Vasily Podkolzin had two assists and Stuart Skinner made 27 saves for the Oilers (10-8-2), who began their three-game road trip with losses to the Toronto Maple Leafs (4-3 in overtime on Saturday) and Montreal Canadiens (3-0 on Monday).
“It was massive,” Skinner said. “Obviously, if we didn’t [win] it would’ve been a pretty ugly road trip, especially playing all the Canadian teams. You always want to show up for those. I think being able to get off to a good start in the first period was a big help, especially going into a back-to-back.”
Tim Stutzle and Josh Norris scored, and Linus Ullmark made 26 saves for the Senators (8-9-1), who have lost three straight (0-2-1).
“One word you could say is immature,” Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk said. “I mean, we talk about it in here all the time, and there’s just been too many moments, too many opportunities that have been missed so far. And I know and I believe that it’s going to get corrected, but it needs to get corrected right now.”
Bouchard gave Edmonton a 1-0 lead at 3:46 of the first period. He skated through the neutral zone with speed, toe-dragged Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot in the slot, and lifted the puck over Ullmark’s glove from in tight.
“Beautiful goal, beautiful goal,” McDavid said. “’Bouch’ is a great player. So patient with it, never in a rush. You can see both of those things on that goal. A beautiful move and a beautiful finish.”