Bruins fans have been disappointed in this forward’s play all season long, but Milan Lucic has stepped up his game since being a healthy scratch against the Penguins back on April 20th. Lucic continued his stellar play as of late tallying three assists in the B’s 5-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs Monday night in Game 3.

Lucic finished the year with an underachieving seven goals in 46 games played, but his three assists on Monday night were crucial in the B’s win against Kessel and company. Lucic now has six assists in three games for the Black and Gold and his line has an eye-popping 17 points while also compiling a plus-15 through three games.

The rumors of Lucic being out of shape, unproductive and the fact that he was a healthy scratch towards the end of the season can be laid to rest as the power forward has really stepped up his game. Lucic is finally skating with a head of steam and making things happen in the offensive end.

His pass to Nathan Horton on a beautiful feed turned out to be the assist on the game-winning goal. In addition to his three helpers, Lucic finished with a plus-3, four penalty minutes, five shots in 14:05 of ice time.

It has been the first line of Lucic-Krejci-Horton that has carried the B’s through the first three games. The Marchand-Bergeron-Seguin line has a combined one point (a Marchand assist) in the team’s first three playoff games. That will change and it must change, but with the way the first line is playing it is going unnoticed at the moment.

Lucic is redeeming himself after a very down year and there is no better place to start than the 2013 Stanley Cup playoffs. His linemate David Krejci talked about how much of a difference Lucic made Monday night.

“Milan, he was huge tonight,” Krejci said. “I think he was our best player out there. I think he was making strong plays. Horty, he does what he does, a big goal in a crucial moment. I’m just happy that those two guys are playing really well.”

Lucic expressed his satisfaction after his big game against the Maple Leafs on Monday night as well.

“It feels better for sure, but you want to keep building and you want to keep trying to get better,” Lucic said. “Like I talked about for the last two weeks, my main focus has just been on the forecheck and moving my feet. I think that’s what got away from me a bit this year. That’s what I’m going to continue to focus on.”

It has been three games in the 2013 Stanley Cup playoffs, but it looks like Milan Lucic is back to his old self.