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Trotz on Smith’s laughable miss: “I didn’t laugh”

NHL Awards Portraits

LAS VEGAS, NV - JUNE 22: Head coach Barry Trotz of the Nashville Predators poses for a portrait during the 2011 NHL Awards at the Palms Casino Resort June 22, 2011 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

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As you’ve probably seen on PHT, last night’s sports highlights or EpicFail.com, Nashville Predators rookie Craig Smith had an empty net miss for the ages last night against the Toronto Maple Leafs:

Judging by his reaction, Smith wanted to crawl into a hole and stay there until 2029, but wasn’t afforded that luxury by the Leafs TV camera crew (or Joe Bowen’s maniacal cackling...or Greg Millen’s incredulous reaction.)

Another guy not letting Smith off the hook? Preds head coach Barry Trotz.

Here’s Trotz addressing the media following the 4-1 win:

I can’t even imagine how big the daggers Trotz stared into Smith’s soul were. Trotz has spent 13 years building the Predators into a lunchpail, bologna sandwich organization...only to watch the hotshot new employee go all Grey Poupon.

The Tennessean notes Smith was not made available for comment after the game, but teammate Pekka Rinne took the opportunity to share his thoughts.

“Obviously, you can laugh about it now, but it’s something that, you can’t do,” Rinne said while chuckling. “It’s a good lesson for him, and he’s a young guy. I was just laughing, I couldn’t believe it, but at the same time if it would have been a 2-1 game still, I would have been mad.”