BLOG: Playing for the playoffs

EDMONTON, AB - This is it. This is what you play for.
The painstaking grind you put in before and during the season, the individual bumps and bruises over the course of the campaign, and how they add up in the collective adversity the Edmonton Oilers have faced -- it's all done to earn your opportunity to play for the most prized possession in all of hockey in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Goaltender Mike Smith and the Oilers have earned their chance to contest hockey's holy grail when the puck drops on Game 1 of their opening round against the Los Angeles Kings at Rogers Place on Monday night.
"There's nothing like playoff hockey in the NHL," Smith said. "It's a special time of the year to be playing. It's a grind to get here, and everyone that gets here has the right to be playing for the Stanley Cup."
Smith was 28 years old when he delved into the post-season for his first taste of hockey in the NHL beyond the regular season with the Tampa Bay Lightning, and he's just as excited today for his sixth-career playoff run as he was when he made his first crease appearance in the post-season back in 2010-11.
"I don't think it changes," Smith said. "Every year you get to this spot and it's an exciting time of year. Obviously, you want to be playing your best hockey. I feel like in other situations that was the case and this one's no different, so I just want to continue to do the same thing."

What the Kingston, Ont. product has brought in the playoffs over his 16-year NHL career is the second-highest save percentage in NHL history (.931) for netminders who've suited up for at least 15 playoff games.
A gamer in his own right as a player who demands the best from himself at every turn, Smith battled through the trials and tribulations presented to him over the course of an 82-game schedule -- injuries, illness and more -- to arrive at the eve of the playoffs playing the best hockey of his extended career.
"It's why you play hockey. It's why you've put in the work all season long," Smith said. "It's why you've put in the work throughout the summer to get your body in as tip-top shape as you can to withstand an 82-game schedule. It's the grind of that schedule, the travel, and everything about it that comes down to the playoffs and you want to be playing your best hockey at this time of the year."
Smith is set to renew a decade-old rivalry with Jonathan Quick from when he went toe-to-toe with the eventual champion in the 2010-11 Western Conference Finals with the Phoenix Coyotes, and it's that irreplaceable experience that the Oilers netminder hopes to utilize to forge his own path to the Stanley Cup.
"It seems like yesterday to be honest, but it's crazy to think it was 10 years ago," he said. "That was really my first taste of it as a starting goalie, and the experience of going to the Conference Finals against what turned out to be the Stanley Cup champs is experience you can't simulate.
"Quicky's had an unbelievable career and I have a lot of respect for what he's done. There's still a fire burning that I haven't got what he's got yet, and that's something that drives me to get better every day and to keep grinding. Hopefully, this year will be the year."

Collectively, Smith is part of an Oilers outfit that looks primed to make noise in the post-season after the netminder's 11-1-1 record in his last 13 games and current nine-game win streak helped contribute to a 19-4-2 record for the club in their last 25 contests.
"The recipe is getting everyone bought into doing the same thing," Smith said. "The thing that makes the good teams stand out from everybody else is the little things in games that matter so much that you get everyone doing it. I think that's really the difference in our team now and the last couple of months to our team at the start of the season -- everyone's bought into winning."
They've done what they've had to do to get themselves here and arrive ready, but now, it's about executing at the most important time. To the 40-year-old, the Oilers have been playing playoff-calibre hockey for months.
"It's something that we've talked about going into the playoffs. You want to be playing at the top of your game, and we talk about not being a light switch you switch on and off when you want," he said.
"Winning is earned, and the confidence is earned with the way your team's playing. We feel like we've been playing some of our best hockey here in the last couple of months and we want to take that right into the playoffs."

Smith and the Oilers certainly have a bitterness left in their mouths from their last two playoff runs, but it's an acquired taste that Smith knows can lead to post-season success down the road in order to learn best from your mistakes and push closer to the ultimate goal.
"I think every time you get into the playoffs, you gain some sort of experience whether you win or lose. I think when you lose," he said. "It definitely leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. Obviously being around here the last few years, it hasn't gone the way our team's wanted, but I think that gives you a little bit more fire and a little bit more burn in your body to come out the next year and do better than you did the year before.
"You have to have the taste in your mouth, and when you win or lose, you gain those valuable experiences. I think this team's chomping at the bit to get started here."