Nation Sites
The Nation Network
OilersNation has no direct affiliation to the Edmonton Oilers, Oilers Entertainment Group, NHL, or NHLPA
Remembering the Mike Smith fight, one year later

By Zach Laing
Feb 1, 2021, 16:00 ESTUpdated: Feb 1, 2021, 15:29 EST
It’s been exactly 365 days since Mike Smith and Cam Talbot danced at centre ice.
It’s kind of crazy to look back at what that night was, and how the world as a whole has changed since then. Nonetheless, I thought I’d offer up an article reflecting on the fight.
The night had been highly-touted given the drama from the month prior between Matthew Tkachuk and Zack Kassian.
But in the final moments of the second period that fateful night, Sam Gagner dug into Talbot’s pads searching for a loose puck, and that’s when things went off the rails.
Gagner and Mark Giordano got into it as Ethan Bear and Matthew Tkachuk dropped the mitts. Smith, meanwhile, skated up to the blueline and Darnell Nurse pointed Talbot towards centre ice.
And the rest is history.
Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@oilersnation.com.
Breaking News
- The Intern Diaries: Coping with the Oilers loss
- Sunday Scramble: Stan Bowman good at the margins, but big swings and misses sting
- Oilers’ Ingram on playing in a Canadian market: ‘If you can play here… you’ll be fine anywhere else’
- McDavid and Draisaitl asked about playing together or apart, how can Oilers depth fill roles
- Why it’s time for the Oilers to make a coaching change
