Veteran forward has more goals with the man-advantage in the season's first month than in any other

Craig Smith is like a battery. He supplies less power the longer he goes.

Except in his case, he supplies less to the Nashville Predators’ power play the longer the season goes.

It is no surprise that the veteran forward is one of the first Nashville players to score with the man-advantage this season. That’s typically what happens.

He converted at 6:01 of the opening period Monday for the first goal in a 4-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild at Bridgestone Arena. For the Predators, it was the second power play goal in as many games. Modest as it is, it is a welcome surge after they went 0-15 in the first four.

For Smith, it was his ninth career power play goal in October, which accounts for more than one-fourth of his career total. He now has 35, which ties him with David Legwand and Patric Hornqvist for sixth on the franchise’s career list. He is two behind Steve Sullivan for fifth place.

Of course, an NHL season covers all or parts of seven months and Smith, now in his eighth year, has not shown the ability to maintain his output beyond October.

A month-by-month breakdown of Craig Smith’s career power play goals:





Month

PPG

Games

October

9

68 November

7

81

December

3

78

January

6

81

February

4

86

March

2

90

April

4

38



Last season, Smith scored a career-high nine times with the man-advantage. The first three were in October. From there, he added three over the next three months and three more over the final three months, never more than two in a single month.

He scored just two power play goals each in 2015-16 and 2016-17. The first in 2015-16 came in the season opener, and the next year he got one in the second game of the season. Then he had just one apiece the rest of the way.

The good news is that there are still six games before November, beginning Friday at Calgary (8 p.m., Fox Sports-Tennessee). That’s plenty of time for before Smith starts to lose his charge.