YOU STUPID IDIOT

The Penguins summoned winger Josh Archibald from their Wilkes-Barre/Scranton farm club, and he responded with two goals at Phoenix Saturday.

Arizona goalie Mike Smith provided quite the assist on Archibald’s second.

Less than six minutes left remained in regulation time. Arizona was up 3-1 and on the power play. Smith is an excellent puckhandler, but a moment of idiocy gifted Archibald a shorthanded goal and cut the Coyotes lead in half.

Phil Kessel tied the game 3-3 with 14.2 seconds left, but Smith’s error was undone when Connor Murphy scored in OT to give Arizona a 4-3 win.

After the game, Smith blamed his faux pas on the lousy ice. He concluded a long diatribe about the "slush" at the Coyotes’ Gila River Arena by saying, "That play can’t happen. I understand that, but the ice is a joke."

Arizona has only 12 home wins on the season, fourth-least in the NHL. That ice must be REALLY bad.

One way to identify losers is by their lack of accountability. Smith had zero reason to stickhandle near his own goal with a 3-1 lead. Bad ice didn’t force Smith to be stupid. Smith seemed confused by the puck's close proximity to the no-touch zone, but wouldn't admit that.

It’s nice that Archibald got two goals, but that’s mostly adrenaline. Jake Guentzel got two goals in his first NHL game, but has netted just once in his last 10 games. But Archibald has speed. Another in a series.


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