LAS VEGAS - Craig Smith is a goal scorer. He scored at least 20 on five different occasions over his first 10 seasons and likely would have hit that mark again each of the last two campaigns had they not been shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lately, however, the veteran winger was having less luck than one of the tourists at a Vegas slot machine. The 32-year-old had not scored since Jan. 30, a span of 12 games, and had just one tally in his last 19 contests.
But that all changed on Thursday night as Smith broke through for his third career hat trick to help pace the Bruins to a 5-2 victory over the Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena.
"Obviously road wins are huge, too. Anytime you get three, you'll take when you can get them," said Smith.
Smith's first two goals were the result of some cohesive work from the B's third line as he finished off nifty feeds from Trent Frederic and Charlie Coyle, respectively. The trio has worked well together over the past few weeks, though they had not been rewarded on the scoresheet consistently before Thursday night.
"They're spending time in the O-zone. We had a good, good meeting this morning with them about something where they can start building a little more attacking mentality," said Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy. "It happened to work tonight. And good for them, because they made a mistake the other night [in Anaheim].
"They've been a really good starting line for us, done a real good job setting the tone, so we don't want to lose that and don't want to punish them for one decision and they came through for us."
Cassidy went on to say that the triumvirate reminds him of 2019 when Boston boasted a stellar third line of Coyle, Marcus Johansson, and Danton Heinen that helped lead the Bruins to the Stanley Cup Final.
"It takes me back to the [2019] playoffs, the Coyle and Jo-Jo trades years ago where we had three lines going and offensively our fourth line was built to kill penalties. Give us energy. We have that," said Cassidy. "And now if, yeah, if that line can generate, we've become dangerous like that offensively."
Video: BOS@VGK: Smith nets 3 in Las Vegas
Pastrnak Hits 30
David Pastrnak provided the Bruins with some insurance midway through the third period when he sneaked one through Vegas goalie Robin Lehner. Pastrnak's tally was his 30th of the season, marking the fifth time he has hit that mark in his career. The 25-year-old, who added an empty-netter in the closing minutes, now has 23 goals since Jan. 1.
Pastrnak's five 30-goal seasons rank as the fourth-most in Bruins history (tied with Bobby Orr) behind Rick Middleton and Phil Esposito (eight), Johnny Bucyk (seven), and Patrice Bergeron, Cam Neely and Peter McNab (six).
Video: BOS@VGK: Pastrnak jams in puck
Wait, There's More
- Frederic notched three assists, marking his first career three-point game. The 24-year-old also landed three shots on goal and four hits in 15:09 of ice time. "Freddy has a really good shot, and I don't think people noticed that his release is excellent," said Cassidy. "So today, even though he got three assists, he shot off the rush a couple of times, which was great, and he made a play to Smitty when they had a clean 3-on-2 for the first goal."
- Jeremy Swayman once again impressed between the pipes, making 34 saves, including a stellar lunging blocker save to rob Reilly Smith in the second period. "Swayman was really good for us tonight," said Cassidy.
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