The Skinny on Reilly Smith's Place in History

Reilly Smith is just the 5th player in Stanley Cup history to record goals and assists in each of the first three games of a playoff year.

You would think that such a performance would forecast success for the players' team.  Not always.

1977: Terry O'Reilly vs Los Angeles.  Bruins won the 3 games, and beat LA in 6.  (Lost to Montreal in semi-finals)

1981 Mike Bossy vs. Toronto.  Isles swept the 3 games and eventually won the Stanley Cup

1982 Wayne Gretzky vs. Los Angeles; Edmonton lost games 1 and 3 (game 3 was the famed "Miracle on Manchester") and lost the series in 5

1991 Jeremy Roenick vs. Minnesota.  Chicago won 2 of the three games, but lost the series in 6.

2016 Reilly Smith vs. Isles. Florida lost 2 of the three games; the rest of the script has yet to be written.


On Wednesday, the Isles will look to go up 3-1 in the series (haven't led a series 3-1 since 1993 vs. Washington) while Smith will look to become the first player in Stanley Cup history to start a playoff year with four consecutive games with both goals and assists.

O'Reilly, Bossy and Gretzky each had an assist in their 4th game of the year (for Bossy, that was game 1 vs. Edmonton), while Roenick was held without a point.