Evander Kane did not have his greatest performance during the Edmonton Oilers game versus the Toronto Maple Leafs, and Kevin Bieksa called him out for it.
Evander Kane is one of the Edmonton Oilers' depth pieces that can determine the course of the game for the Oilers. While obviously
Connor McDavid and
Leon Draisaitl are going to be the ones producing a lot of the points, when
Evander Kane's efforts are high, he can swing the game in the Oilers' favour,
that is when he isn't arguing on the Oilers bench with Draisaitl.
However, that didn't seem to be the case last night against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Evander Kane had a lacklustre effort in the Oilers' 6-3 loss to the Leafs, and he was called out for it by Kevin Bieksa during the broadcast. Specifically,
the Leafs did a great job of being physical with the Oilers stars Connor McDavid and
Leon Draisaitl, and Bieksa wanted to see
Evander Kane step up for them. Here is what Bieksa had to say.
"The Leafs wanted to get bigger and tougher in front of their net and they wanted to defend like this so if you're the Oilers and you're the skill guys like McDavid, you let the Kanes and you let the Nurses and you let your physical guys, Janmark, get involved in this stuff," said Bieksa on Hockey Night in Canada.
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"You have to turn the other cheek if you're Connor and Leon cause your team needs you on the ice."
"But then like
Evander Kane or somebody else step up, why do McDavid and Draisaitl have to fight their own battles?" asked Bieksa. "Why isn't the rest of their team stepping in for them?"
The Edmonton Oilers got tossed around by the Toronto Maple Leafs last night in a new look for the Leafs.
For Leaf fans, it was probably fun to see their team on the side of dishing out the physicality and not the side taking it. They were able to get to
Connor McDavid and
Leon Draisaitl a number of times, making sure they knew that they were in a physical game.
Max Domi also continued his incredible streak of play, tallying a beautiful assist to go along with a late-period fight where he landed some massive right-hand blows.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are finding their stride at the right point in the season, and Leaf fans are hopeful that they will be able to keep this hot streak going, even when they add back
Mitch Marner. Hopefully, though,
the injury to Samsonov that was suffered at the end of the game isn't anything too serious. As seen on
Hockey Feed - "Kevin Bieksa calls out Evander Kane after two brutal periods." -
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