Maple Creek's own Zack Smith is about to make his NHL Conference Final's debut.

After he and the Ottawa Senators downed the New York Rangers 4-2 on Tuesday to win their Eastern Conference Semi-Final series four games to two, the former Swift Current Bronco now finds himself the deepest he has ever been in the NHL Playoffs.

"I'm just kind-of living in the moment as it comes," Smith said. "I'm just very grateful to be playing this time of year. Over the last few years we have been at home watching playoff hockey and that is never fun."

The playoff run, as well as the last two weeks of the regular season, however, have not been as smooth sailing as Smith would have preferred.

Like most guys in the NHL at this time of year, the 6'2" forward has been battling the injury bug.

Smith was forced to leave a 5-1 loss in Minnesota on March 30th with an upper-body injury and did not return to action until game one of Ottawa's first round playoff series against the Boston Bruins on April 12th.

Then in game three of their second round series against the New York Rangers, Smith once again had to leave the game with an upper-body injury, but was able to return for game four, two days later.

"Well, it's tough but it is playoff hockey and there are not a lot of guys out there playing at one-hundred percent," said Smith. "It's that time of year where the pace picks up the a bit, the physical part of the game picks up, but it will be nice to have the few days between the (New York) series and the Pittsburgh series coming up."

At the end of the regular season the Senators finished with a record of 44-28-10 putting them second in the Atlantic Division.

Despite their standing and having home-ice advantage in the first round against Boston, the Senators had the second worst odds of all 16 playoff teams to win the Stanley Cup at +2800 (according to bodog).

"I think the biggest thing was we were playing with a healthy line-up for the first time all year," said Smith. "It was kind-of new for a lot of people to go out there having everybody healthy and ready to go.

"I think that was probably one of the reasons that a lot of people kind-of over looked us or didn't think we would make it as far as we have."

The Ottawa 2008 3rd round draft pick says they don't mind the general public picking against them.

"We've been playing that underdog role up till now and I don't think that changes with the next round against Pittsburgh," Smith said. "They are probably the favourite to win the cup now. It is a good position for us, we like where we are at and we're just excited to start the next round here."

Having gone through the Bruins and the Rangers in the first two rounds of the playoffs, the Senators have had to tame the likes of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and Mats Zuccarello.

Moving forward, the task does not get any easier against the Pittsburgh Penguins, who feature Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel to name a few.

Smith says to have success against the Penguins they need to stick with what has got them this far.

"From the first round to the second round there wasn't a lot that we changed in terms of our game-plan or how we played," he said. "In the first round we ran into one of the best lines with Marchand and Bergeron and we did a great job shutting them down. Then, second round it was the same thing. (New York) had a lot of guys up front that are dangerous with the puck, and that is the same way we are going to approach this next round too."

While his main focus has obviously been on preparing for each Ottawa playoff game, Smith says he was also keeping close tabs on his former junior team.

"I kept a good watch on the (Swift Current) Broncos and it was great to see them back in the playoffs and competitive again," he said.

"I thought they had it against Regina, so it was tough to see but at the same time it was a good stepping stone for the Broncos and something to build off."

This season, the Swift Current Broncos advanced to the second round of the WHL Playoffs for the first time since 2008.

One of the members of that 2008 Broncos team was Zack Smith, who led the team with 70 points in the 2007-08 regular season.

He says he still uses the experience of that run with the Broncos from time to time.

"I remember playing in those games back home, with the crowd being so loud you'd think there were 20,000 fans in there screaming," he said.

"Once you get in the zone when you are playing, you try to block the rest out, but I can definitely draw a lot from that playoff experience. We weren't expected to move beyond Regina and we did, so I think it was a great stepping stone for a lot of us."

Smith was one of eight players on the 2007-08 Broncos to be drafted by an NHL team.

Hoping to add a Stanley Cup to his resume, which already includes a Calder Cup from 2011, Smith says he is doing his best to enjoy the opportunity to hand.

"It's the best time of year to play. It's the longest playoff run I have had in Ottawa in my NHL career, so it is definitely an exciting time," he said.