from Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal,

You know what they say — a setback is a setup for a comeback.

And so it was that the Edmonton Oilers smashingly rebounded from their disheartening opening loss to the Los Angeles Kings in Game 1, on a capital-letter OOPS puck mistake by goalie Mike Smith, with a 6-0 gut-check 48 hours later as Smith made 30 saves.

He that giveth away, taketh away with only one hairy close call in the third on Smith when a dump-in by Sean Durzi hit referee Jake Brenk, the onetime Oiler draft pick, and the puck bounced crazily towards the net with Smith diving to glove it.

“I didn’t know where the puck hit him but I know it got him pretty hard. So obviously I went over to see if he’s OK,” said Smith. “I asked him right away if that would have counted if it went in the net. And he said ‘no, it wouldn’t have.’ It was a little tense there but it stayed out.”

While Smith was rock solid in his fifth career shutout, his teammates hit everything that moved except the Zamboni and the driver. The list included captain Connor McDavid, who got a boarding call early on Mikey Anderson, then he belted Alex Iafallo in the second period with a frustrated Iafallo swinging his stick at McDavid’s leg.

continued

Watch the highlights below.