For most Bruins fans, their offseason wish list was simple. In some order it looked like this: resign Torey Krug, sign Taylor Hall, sign Alex Pietrangelo, or sign Mike Hoffman.
Instead, it was Craig Smith, a lesser known name compared to the above. Maybe you had heard of him, maybe you hadn’t.
You certainly know his name now.
Smith has never had a 30-point power play season like Krug has. Smith has never won an MVP award like Hall has. Smith has never captained a team to a Stanley Cup like Pietrangelo has. Smith has never had a 36-goal campaign like Hoffman has.
But none of those four players the Bruins passed on in October has made an impact on their new team like Smith has.
“Probably one of the most well-liked guys I've ever played with as a teammate,” said Hall who oddly enough is now teammates with Smith.
Smith will never be the most-skilled player on the ice. But on most nights, he’s the hardest working.
Hard work is what led to Smith’s double overtime goal in Game 3 of their best-of-seven series with the Washington Capitals, and in the process, gave the Bruins a 2-1 series lead.
"He's a high-energy guy. He's always going to work and try to play the right way, good for him to get in on a puck,” said head coach Bruce Cassidy. “We have a plan in place to try to play behind their defense. When we get away from it, we've had a little bit of trouble. So, we'll keep sending that message.”
Kevan Miller dumped the puck in as Smith waited ever so patiently for his linemates to get onside. Then, Smith began his descent into the attacking zone.
When Capitals goalie Ilya Samsonov—who was playing in his first game since May 1— played the puck from behind the Capitals net— Justin Schultz to his right as a safety option, all Smith was looking to do was get a stick on the puck, trying to disrupt the play.
But this was no normal goalie to defenseman handoff. Samsonov let the puck sit there, first by his feet before skating back away from it—Schultz was late to the puck, likely thrown off by Samsonov's decision to let the puck sit there instead of playing it along the boards to him.
With the Capitals snoozing on the job, Smith raced in, picked up the puck that neither of the two closest Capitals wanted and deposited it into the back of the Capitals net.
Game.
"I kind of circled back into the zone. I don't know if there was a miscommunication between the two. kind of looked like it,” said Smith.
“I just tried to jump on it, see if I could create a little bit of a turnover there. They gave me just enough time to get it in there. It was a great feeling, anytime you can end one like that, I say ‘I love winning, but I hate waiting.’”
Smith’s overtime tally wasn’t the only act of magic Smith performed. His backhanded dish to Hall in the second period helped the Bruins answer Alex Ovechkin’s goal less than a minute after the sniper gave the Capitals the 1-0 lead.
"Our line, we haven't played together for four or five years like our first line,” said Hall. “But we can create turnovers and put pressure on other teams just by tilting the ice and playing in their end and constantly being on them and eventually, it's really hard to break out pucks clean in this league and I think [Smith] is one of the best at just creating those turnovers."
Smith has been a player that wherever Cassidy placed him in the lineup, he’s found success. In a span of 23 games between Mar. 18 and May. 1, Smith put up 23 points. It was a run that he started with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand on the top line, and ended on the second line with Hall and Krejci.
He even spent time on the third line with Charlie Coyle, another role he succeeded in.
“Smitty had been playing really well with every line he was on. If you remember, he went up with Bergy and March and I thought did an excellent job with them when we dropped [David Pastrnak] down with Krech,” said Cassidy.
For the first time in a long time, the Bruins have a second line as dangerous as their first.
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