KANATA, Ont. — Simon Benoit was as stunned as you were.
It’s hard to act like you’ve been there before when you haven’t.
So, when the Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman uncorked a blistering point shot off another successful offensive-zone faceoff and saw his missile zip through converging traffic and bulge the twine behind Linus Ullmark, thrusting the Ottawa Senators to the brink, his celebration was one of Really?! Me?!
“I didn’t quite know how to react, to be honest,” the Battle of Ontario’s latest long-shot overtime hero said, following a 3-2 win that locked in a 3-0 series lead. “Just lifted both my arms. Didn’t move. And I saw those guys coming towards me. So, good feeling.
“I guess luck is a bit on my side for now.”
Until donning the cape Thursday night, the undrafted Benoit had thrown as many Superman punches as he had scored goals for the Maple Leafs (two).
The moustachioed milk lover had never scored in the playoffs. Not in the NHL, AHL, or QMJHL. Not as far back as his HockeyDB page will reach.
Safe to say this was the biggest goal of his life?
“I don’t score much goals. I would say, yeah,” Benoit replied. “Pretty exciting, that’s for sure.”
The second-biggest goal of his career?
“Peewee or something.”
Stories like the one Benoit — a bilingual man in a bilingual town showing he can impact the series at both ends of the rink — is writing this week are why we fell in love with the playoffs in the first place.
In a flash, a healthy scratch or an off-the-glass-and-out depth defenceman can find himself in the nucleus of a hockey-hug cluster and fielding questions from the heroes’ podium.
“It’s always great when a guy like that scores a big goal like that. Overtime goal. Game winner,” coach Craig Berube said. “Very happy for him.”
By his own admission, Benoit has been pushing through a unique and inconsistent season. The 26-year-old and his longtime girlfriend, Alice, welcomed their first baby in the fall. Routine went out the window. Sleep got scarce.
The bruising right shot got scratched four times, and when he had a rough night, a segment of fans would cry for more Philippe Myers.
Benoit finally had secured the richest and longest contract of his life — three years, $4.05 million — but still there were nights he looked off or got burnt.
“For me, it was a long process this season,” Benoit said. “I struggled little bit at the beginning of the season; my game wasn’t quite there yet. And management was good enough to just let me take my sleep back and work my way through it.
“After Christmas, I managed all the things that was happening at home. It’s the best thing that could’ve happened for me. My baby’s just fantastic, and I have a wonderful girlfriend at home. So, it’s fun.”
Even more fun when you’re a primary factor in consecutive playoff overtime winners (Benoit led the rush that teed up Max Domi’s clock-stopper in Game 2) and, like partner Oliver Ekman-Larsson, so much more trusted than the third-pairing defencemen on the opposing side.
“We do talk a lot about kids and who’s getting more sleep,” says fellow dad Ekman-Larsson. “Whoever goes back to get the puck, it’s the one who slept the most.”
Benoit’s game has always been a simple one. Block shots. Box out intruders. Kill a couple cycles and a couple penalties.
But during what is now a seven-game win streak for Toronto, Benoit’s confidence with the puck has risen. He’s up in the rush. He’s clearing the zone with his feet more often, instead of a chop off the boards.
“He’s got a little bit more in his bag than what everybody thinks. I think he showed that on the OT goal the other night, and then tonight — bomb, bomb,” Ekman-Larsson smiles. “He’s a good skater. Plays hard. You don’t want to play against him, I’ll you that much. He’s tough.
“Looking back (at the Panthers’ 2024 Cup run), I think you kinda need different guys to chip in at different times as well. It can’t just be top guys. Shows that we have a deep team.”
And a team that is finally getting offensive contributions from a blueline that was comparatively silent in that department during the regular season.
Through three games, the Leafs have four goals from D-men; the Senators blue line is still searching for its first.
“We’re trying to get up there when we have the chance, but we’ve been creating a lot of chances for our forwards at the same time,” Ekman-Larsson says. “We try to chip in. It’s not like sitting back and defending. I think we try to get up there.”
But never at the expense of the primary task.
Following his 11th consecutive win, series difference-maker Anthony Stolarz points out that Benoit was “sacrificing his body” with two big blocks in the dying seconds of regulation, which should make the payoff at the other end all the more rewarding.
Stolarz and Benoit go way back as teammates on the San Diego Gulls. The goalie has noticed an evolution in his reunited teammate.
“Just his confidence, his composure with the puck, and that snarl that he brings,” Stolarz said. “He’s a guy that you love to have, as a goalie, right in front of you. He pushes guys out. He’s willing to eat pucks, He’s willing to fight. He’s willing to do all those little, nitty-gritty things that you got to have on a successful team.”
Auston Matthews agrees.
The captain noticed Benoit’s physicality and rangy stick when he showed up at training camp in 2023, but it’s the sharpened details of the defender’s game that have made him more important and allowed him to chip in under the bright lights.
So, was it a set play for Matthews to win the final draw and set up a Benoit bomb?
“Just try to win the faceoff and try to get a shot to the net, converge on it and see what happens,” Matthews said.
“But Benny took care of that and just sniped it right away.”
The new dad should sleep well tonight.
Fox’s Fast Five
• We were curious if Sens fans would flex their pride and overwhelm visiting Leafs fans at Canadian Tire Centre for the franchise’s first home playoff game in eight years — and they came through loud and proud.
A great, if occasionally nasty, atmosphere composed of roughly 85 per cent Sens supporters.
A full-throated “O Canada” sing-along. Boos for Morgan Rielly. One guy getting Jumbotron famous for printing out a screenshot of the Ridly Greig empty-net slapshot and holding it aloft.
“Matthews sucks!” chants morphing into “Matthews balding!” and “Marner’s leaving!” taunts.
Ottawa turned out. Great to see.
• Toronto’s power-play — now 5-for-9 in the series — continues to scorch a Sens’ penalty kill that has no answer and no luck.
“They’re keeping it simple,” says defenceman Jake Sanderson, who has been on the ice for all five goals. “They’re funnelling pucks to the net quick and kind of caught us off guard. We’ll be better in that area.”
• The Senators can’t complain about the officiating after this one.
Since Game 1, when Travis Green accused the Maple Leafs of embellishing, Ottawa has earned seven power-plays to Toronto’s three.
Sure looks like Brady Tkachuk sold this hooking call on John Tavares.
• Matthews entered Game 3 with one even-strength assist and no goals.
“Overall, I’m pleased with that line, the job they’re doing,” Berube, unbothered, said Thursday morning.
Then, a sly smile: “I’m not too worried about Matthews.”
Matthews sniped Toronto’s go-ahead goal, then won the fourth-period faceoff that set up Benoit’s winner, factoring in on both Leafs’ even-strength strikes.
• Claude Giroux and Scott Laughton spent 10 seasons as teammates in Philadelphia.
On multiple occasions this week, they have intentionally sought each other out in scrums and exchanged whacks.
