EDMONTON – Mike Smith was old and thought he looked tired. In my opinion, in fact.
It was Game 2, and after getting hooked 9-6 in the beginning, Smith left a rebound in his crease to deposit Brett Ritchie. That made it 2-0 just six minutes after Game 2, and as that old Calgary wrestling promoter, Stu Hart, would say, the Flames were “directing traffic” at the time.
Smith looked somewhat like the 40-year-old scumbag, who shouldn’t be able to match Calgary’s Jacob Markstrom. The man everyone in the hockey world doubted he could do every other night in May.
But from about seven minutes into Game 2, until the near-perfect night of Sunday’s 4-1 victory, Smith did something no expert thought he would – or could – do.
He was the best goalkeeper in this battle at Alberta and was not close.
And the numbers?
How about a series of savings of .916 for Smith and goals against an average of 3.45, compared to .853 and 5.74 for Markström?
Who looks tired now?
“I’m just trying to make rescues for our group there to be honest. “I try to stay as balanced as possible and save when the team needs me,” said Smith, whose curly mane was held hostage by an Oilers flat hat. “The fans were amazing in all the playoffs. Tonight was no different, perhaps a little stronger with the battle of Alberta. It’s just an amazing feeling to play in front of this fan base and I’m excited to win. “
One night, Leon Drysight set a National Hockey League record with four assists in one playoff game; when Connor McDavid set an NHL record with his ninth game with a few points in the first 10 games of the playoff series; when Evander Kane scored the seventh fastest hat-trick in the history of the Stanley Cup playoffs (six minutes), the most promising element of the Oilers game was how few gave up.
Their team defense was impeccable and behind all this Smith seemed to have a lot of play left after the long weekend of May.
Yes, he looks different now, but not tired.
“He has only played 28 games in the regular season,” said head coach Jay Woodcroft. “You add 10 to the playoffs and that’s 38. He’s in the middle of the season right now. It’s not like he’s played 63 games and added 10 more to it and all the wear and tear. “
Edmonton gave up a bit in the first period, nothing in the second, and then went through the third, when the resulting effects took over, helping the Flames to reach 33 shots on goal. But while the game was in balance, it was a protected gemstone that no one watching the first two games of this series would have predicted.
And as we suspected, this Oilers team today has something it didn’t have in the early exile in the last two seasons. This is an evil, double-headed weapon that we wrote about two years ago:
When McDavid and Dreisytle command hockey from the defensive zone as well as the O-zone, this Oilers team becomes a very difficult team to win. When they are as difficult to insert as they are to protect, you now have a recipe that can last – for which the Flames will have to find an antidote.
“Obviously they made some plays on those goals that were spectacular,” Woodcroft said of his two superstars, who now lead all of the playoffs with 23 and 19 points, respectively. “But I would talk about checking them. The way they defended themselves.
“This line (with Kane) – Connor and Leon finished plus-4. When our best players lead in defense, setting the tone for what is expected for the full 200 feet, it makes us a better team. ”
“He took his game to the next level,” Kane said of his captain. “He doesn’t just do it in the protocol – it allows him to really demonstrate his skills. He is physical, he is involved. he wins puck battles along the wall, both in the defensive and offensive zones. He is the dominant force there. “
What McDavid is doing, averaging 2.3 points per game after an average of 1.5 per game in the regular season, is beyond amazing. How Draisaitl produced on one foot, giving his team 21 minutes per game and surpassing any NHL player without the name McDavid, is epic.
And then there’s Kane, who was just looking for the right place for half a season to increase his value for the free agency. He gave spades, leading 10 goals in the playoffs, three of which destroyed Calgary in Game 3.
“I knew I was going back to the NHL,” Kane said, recalling his problems at the start of the season with the San Jose Sharks. “I was very confident in that. It was just a matter of when and when I would get this opportunity, taking full advantage of it. “
This is currently an advantage for Edmonton.
They win the battle for goalkeepers, their best players are better than Calgary’s best players, and in Game 3 they beat Flames for all the important minutes.
“When your best players play the best hockey in their careers in the playoffs,” Smith said, “your team has a really good chance of winning.”
Isn’t that the truth?
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