For the most part, Craig Smith has played well this season. His high-motor forechecking and defensive play have been there. His willingness to shoot and ability to get his shot off have been there.
What hadn't been there enough prior to Thursday night were the goals. Smith entered the Bruins' game against Vegas with just six in 47 games, and none in the last 12. It was a scoring pace that was roughly half of his career average, with a 4.9% shooting percentage that was also about half his usual mark.
You had to think the breakout was coming eventually. It finally did Thursday, as Smith recorded his third career hat trick to lead Boston to a 5-2 win over the Golden Knights.
This wasn't a matter of Smith doing anything drastically different. On the contrary, Smith stuck to the good habits that are often in his game and finally got rewarded with a better end product.
On his first goal, Smith's effort forced a turnover in the neutral zone that created the chance in the first place. Then he took a pass from Trent Frederic (who had a career-high three points, by the way) and snapped a shot past Robin Lehner from the high slot. Smith has had plenty of looks from that range, but this one went in.
On the second, Smith helped force a turnover on the forecheck and then went to the front of the net. On the third, he got himself in shooting position to take advantage of a scrambled situation in front. A little luck helps, too. Smith probably got away with a trip before the second, and Lehner collided with one of his defensemen and couldn't recover in time on the third. But luck is always part of the equation, and Smith was due a healthy dose of it.
Thursday night offered a reminder that the 32-year-old Smith is still capable of scoring more than he had been this season. It also offered a reminder of how much of an X-factor he can be if he starts to do so.
Whatever line Smith has been on this season has generally looked good. He never looks out of place no matter whom he's with. But there was a consistent theme of his lines not quite scoring as much as you'd expect, and one major reason for that was that Smith wasn't scoring as much as you'd expect. That was the case when he was on the top line with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand, and it's been the case over the last month when he's been on the third line with Frederic and Charlie Coyle.
Bruce Cassidy has sung that line's praises as something of an ideal third line -- one that can possess the puck, play physical, play good defense and, in theory, score. Coyle had a couple goals early on in their run together, and Frederic had one as well.
But none of the three had scored in the Bruins' four games prior to Thursday. They were still playing well, and they weren't giving up much at the other end (in fact, the Bruins still have not allowed a goal in the 107 minutes that line has been on the ice). But everyone knows that come playoffs, you need a third line that can pop in a goal more than once every four or five games.
If Smith were scoring at anything close to his normal rate, they would have been. Of the three, he has the best track record as a goal-scorer. No one's expecting him to start scoring hat tricks on the regular, but the hope is that Thursday night will open the door for production that's more in line with what everyone knows Smith is capable of.
And if you add some Smith goals to what that line was already doing, now the Bruins really have a third line to get excited about. Combine that with Jake DeBrusk finding his scoring touch recently, and you suddenly have two offensive upgrades just from internal options.
"Our third line comes through," Cassidy said after the game, "and if that can be a thing that you can get through some games where your top guys aren't going, or you don't get on the power play much, or generate on it, then you're going to be dangerous."
