Luck in Chess and Monstrous Knights

My opponent this week was, unfortunately, running late and ran into some early time trouble but saved the game brilliantly. It reminded me of a wonderful book on my shelf called How to Be Lucky in Chess by David LeMoir. In hindsight, I think I managed to most (though thankfully not all!) of his "Typical Faults of the Superior Side" chapter. I chose the easy way out by opting for easy exchanges (I assumed my opponent would not initiate any exchanges - I was wrong), I lost sight of my opponent's plans by focusing only on my own goals (castle queenside and break on the kingside), I was stunned when my opponent put up tremendous resistance (I spent about 45 minutes on a single move when I realized I was no longer winning), and I opted for safety rather than putting in the hard work and calculating options to return material but take the center. 

Meanwhile, my opponent played a terrific game and showed wonderful mental fortitude. The essential thing was maintaining a clear sight of the positives in the position, escpecially the monsterous knight in the center. He managed to manufacture his own luck and convert a loss into a draw. See game below: