"I can laugh now": Oilers' Smith able to shrug off horrendous 132-foot goal

Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports

Mike Smith and the Edmonton Oilers got the last laugh on Tuesday.

But for a moment, he probably wasn’t in a joking mood.

Smith, who backstopped the Oilers with 29 saves in a critical 5-2 win in Game 4 of their best-of-7 series in the Battle of Alberta against the Calgary Flames, was in line to be the punchline after letting in a 132-foot shorthanded goal that tied the pivotal game 3-3 midway through the third period.

“I can laugh now, right?” Smith questioned.

He can.

“I don’t think there has been a time in my career where I have lost the puck, where I have no idea where it went,” he continued. “Talking to some guys afterwards, I wasn’t the only one that didn’t know where it was either. So that made me feel a little bit better.

“But obviously you don’t want that to happen… ever.”

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— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 25, 2022

The Oilers had jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the contest, including a goal on the first shot of the game when Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scooped up an equally misfortunate turnover off the stick of Flames goaltender Jacob Markstrom.

But the Flames battled back to pull within one and, with Matthew Tkachuk in the penalty box to serve a too-many-men minor, Rasmus Andersson sailed a clearing attempt up and out of Calgary’s zone and down the ice to relieve pressure.

Turns out, it just diverted that pressure — onto Smith.

“Honestly, as soon as I shot it I kind of saw it went towards the net and I saw that he didn’t see it,” Andersson detailed. “I was thinking to myself real quick, ‘oh this might go in’ and it went in. It was a game of bounces both ways. They got a lucky one and we got a lucky one.”

The gaff could’ve swung momentum and helped even the series at two games apiece.

Instead, Nugent-Hopkins netted his second of the night with 3:27 remaining to send the home side home happy. And bail out his netminder.

“It was an unbelievable goal by Nuge at the end there to give us a nosiest back and get us up in the series,” Smith said.

“A win is a win.”

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