Mike Smith goes after Evgeni Malkin in the final minute of the game.

Mike Smith was not having it.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 4 years ago
Mike Smith goes after Evgeni Malkin in the final minute of the game.

Part of me wishes there was a world in which we could have seen these two men drop the gloves and settle things that way, but it was probably for the best that they did not do so in the end. 

On Friday night the Pittsburgh Penguins faced off against the Edmonton Oilers in a game that proved to be a rather frustrating one for an Oilers team that has suddenly gotten back to its losing ways once again. The Oilers were largely dominated by the Penguins in this one, with the Penguins taking an early two goal lead in the game's first period and never really looking back, and by the time the clock had run down to the final minute of play in the game's third period it become abundantly clear that those frustrations had started to boil over for the Edmonton Oilers. 

There was just barely over a minute left to play when Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin created a scoring chance by charging towards the Oilers net, but thankfully for the Oilers veteran goaltender Mike Smith was able to deny Malkin on the play and make the save. In spite of the save from Smith however Malkin and the veteran goaltender collided during the play, with the Oilers net seemingly taking the worst of it as Malkin did his best to avoid making too much contact with Smith. The contact that was made however was too much for Smith to handle, although the fact that he had given up 5 goals to that point no doubt played a significant factor in his frustration as well, and the veteran goalie snapped and went straight for Malkin after the play.

To his credit Malkin actually seemed to try and defuse the situation here, it genuinely came off like Malkin was trying to be a nice guy about the whole thing, but Smith was incensed and having none of it. This resulted in a huge scrum involving players from both teams and by the time they had all been split apart Malkin was no longer in such a friendly mood and seemed to want a piece of Smith himself. Nothing would come of it of course with Malkin sent to the penalty box, Smith was awarded a penalty as well on the play, for what remained of the game.


Source: