Edited Jun. 9, 2022 at 12:45 p.m.
Quoting: DirtyDangle
mike smith is getting a lot of **** for a goalie who put up .913sv in the playoffs.
Quoting: Tintin
Yes, but you could reasonably expect from him not to give up multiple goals between the legs and put some sort of cap on bad turnovers, no?
Quoting: Devil
What time is the Oilers game today? Im excited to watch Mike Smith
Quoting: A_Habs_fan
Mike Smith is also a washed-up player who shouldn't be a team's starter and has no consistency in net whatsoever, he can look amazing one game then look like he belongs in the ECHL the next
Quoting: capsfan2121
He is the reason why you lost
Quoting: oilersguy
no he wasn't at all, COL was just better all round team
Anyone who’s seen my threads have seen me hate on Smith.
Oilersguy and me have definitely had a few arguments hahahaha
But Smith played far better than anyone expected and pushed the Oilers past their expected ceiling with some huge wins off his own play.
Yes they needed a better goalie but Smith far outperformed anyones expectations. Yes he had some major flubs, gaffs, and some weak goals in dire moments. But once again; it leads me back to…
Holland is at fault for putting an entire cup on on the shoulders of a 40 year old 1B starter; and his backup was literally a shooter tutor (Mikko).
Holland is at fault for not acquiring help in the Oilers net and if Smith had a quality backup/ a 1A/B situation where he had someone who could share the load the Oilers may have been able to push Colorado farther in the series but the Avs were clearly the FAR BETTER team and Makar slowed McDavids 5on5 pressure.
Hollands done a lot wrong, and a lot right (sure I’ll give him that). But once again; I always go back to this quote from Jeff Marek earlier in the year. Paraphrasing here:
I am worried that the Oilers and Ken Holland are going to talk themselves out of having a goalie problem. And that worries me for their playoff hopes.
And evidently; while it wasn’t all on their goalies. I fail to see how things couldn’t have been better with Smith having quality help behind him or to pair with him.
Not every old goalie can have the type of miraculous run like Tim Thomas.