Quote:
Originally Posted by DazzlinDino
This a good example, both players approach on either side of Smith (which is part of the game plan); This one fails because Brodie gets caught between Smith and the net. I may be wrong but that was part of the reason Smith get gets frustrated during that play. The incident on the Wild game is that Hanifin gets tangled up with Smith instead of stopping on either side, which is why Smith refuses to leave because Hanifin is in the wrong spot. This may be why Smith doesn't directly own up to it because there was a communication issue on the ice.
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The issue is poor decision-making and Mike Smith trying to do too much when it's unnecessary leading to goals where there was never even any sniff of a scoring opportunity in the first place.
The purpose of a goalie handling pucks is to help the defence, not take over their role. Smith oversteps that line. Bad enough when the Flames are comfortably in front, but in a tight tie game in the 3rd period, he had no business playing that puck, and absolutely no business staying there. He absolutely gave two points away that we have if he is just doing the bare minimum of what is expected of him. That is a backbreaker. That is why we got rid of Elliott. I don't want to see him in the playoffs.