Smith has All-Star blast as injury replacement for Pacific Division

TAMPA -- Mike Smith didn't have his best shot on goal in the 2018 Honda NHL All-Star Game, but there's no question he had an absolute blast.
Smith, named as an injury replacement for Los Angeles Kings goalie Jonathan Quick on the Pacific Division team one day before 2018 Honda NHL All-Star Weekend began, couldn't contain how much fun he had after the 5-2 win against the Atlantic Division in the final of the 3-on-3 tournament.

"I was really enjoying myself," Smith said. "I was a late addition to the team. Was great for my family to enjoy it with me."
He was so thrilled to be back in Tampa, where he played for the Lightning from 2007-11, that he could laugh about missing two chances to become the first goalie to score a goal in an NHL All-Star Game.
With one minute left in the final, Smith make a stick save to stop Buffalo Sabres forward Jack Eichel on a breakaway, then fired the puck toward the empty net at the other end of the ice. But he couldn't elevate the shot and the puck didn't make it past center ice.

With 12 seconds remaining, Smith took a pass from San Jose Sharks defenseman Brent Burns, skated within 10 feet behind his own blue line and fired again. This time, he was able to elevate the puck but missed wide right.
"The ice is bad out there," joked Smith,
who scored a length-of-the-ice goal into a tiny slot last season
during the Four Line Challenge at the NHL All-Star Skills Competition. "The boys were trying to get me the puck there. Burns couldn't get me a pass on the tape so I kind of panicked a little bit.
"It would have been nice to thread one in there. Such is life."
Johnny Gaudreau, Smith's teammate in Calgary and on the Pacific Division team, said he was surprised the second shot didn't go in.
"Last year he got it in a little hole, this year he can't get it in a big net," Gaudreau said.
Smith also made a highlight-reel save on hometown favorite Steven Stamkos of the Tampa Bay Lightning with 3:04 left in the game and the Pacific leading 4-2. After making the sprawling stop on a slap shot by Stamkos, Smith stood up, stretched out both arms to signal no goal and stared at his former teammate.

It was all in good fun.
"Stammer is a good friend of mine. It was a fun weekend to be around him. He's a tremendous player and an even a better person off the ice," Smith said. "It was a lot of fun out there to give him the gears a little."
Of course, scoring a goal would have been more fun.
"That would have been nice," Smith said, "but the win's the most important."