BOSTON — Of all Florida Panthers, it just had to be Sam Bennett, didn’t it?
Like he hadn’t already aggravated the Boston Bruins and their passionate fans enough in his only previous appearance in this quickly boiling-over series, like he wasn’t already more annoying than pieces of shell that somehow slipped their way into their juicy lobster roll, Bennett — one of the NHL’s biggest agitators, shift disturbers and notorious playoff warriors — just had to be the guy to score the controversial tying goal in the Panthers’ latest playoff comeback at TD Garden.
One game after drawing the ire of Bruins coach Jim Montgomery, fans and scores of online video detectives with what the state of Massachusetts insists was an intentional, sneaky punch to captain Brad Marchand’s jaw, Bennett turned the other cheek anytime Bruins players wanted a piece of him, then played a major role in Florida’s 3-2 triumph that put it a victory away from a second consecutive Eastern Conference final.
On a third-period power play, Bennett scored after pushing Charlie Coyle into goalie Jeremy Swayman. As Coyle made contact, the puck naturally trickled right to Bennett in front of the goalmouth for the equalizer into an open net. The Bruins challenged for goalie interference, but the NHL Situation Room in Toronto, on the headset with the two refs, ruled that the video “supported the Referees’ call on the ice that the shove by Florida’s Sam Bennett on Charlie Coyle and the subsequent contact with Jeremy Swayman did not prevent Swayman from playing his position in the crease prior to Bennett’s goal.”
IT STANDS 😱
SAM BENNETT HAS TIED THE GAME IN BOSTON 🚨 pic.twitter.com/8BZuILIG3h
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) May 13, 2024
The Bruins, to say the least, disagreed. They were mostly diplomatic after the game, but a fuming mad Montgomery gave it to both refs during the ensuing power play for the unsuccessful challenge and the subsequent TV timeout.
Was Swayman ticked off that out of all players, it had to be Bennett who scored?
“I don’t know who scores goals. I don’t look at players,” Swayman said. “It doesn’t matter. It went in. And that’s frustrating enough. My job is to keep pucks out, and that’s all I care about.”
Bennett wasn’t surprised the goal counted.
“I think they got the right call,” he said.
Bennett felt Swayman would not have had time to slide over had Coyle inhibited him or not, “so I think that’s the reason why it stood.”
Of course, if Coyle hadn’t been pushed onto Swayman, he would have been the one defending Bennett at the side of the net. But a missed interference or cross-checking penalty by the refs is not reviewable.
Panthers coach Paul Maurice, naturally, also agreed with the call, saying “the contact between the two is not egregious at all. And the play just gets finished more than anything else. And that’s in the situation book and it’s in the rulebook.”
Though the Panthers didn’t score on the power play, Aleksander Barkov, in the midst of a tremendous postseason, would make it 3-2 just 3:50 after Bennett tied it. With Sam Reinhart out of the game with a gruesome cut after taking a puck to the face, Kyle Okposo forced a turnover and Barkov followed up by skating right through David Pastrnak, Jake DeBrusk and Mason Lohrei for his third game winner of the playoffs. Barkov has a franchise record 50 points in 56 playoff games, tying Saku Koivu as the fourth-fastest Finnish-born player to reach 50 playoff points.
“It’s so much fun to watch Barky play hockey,” Bennett said. “I think for anyone else that’s a career highlight goal, and for him, it’s just another day in the office.”
Anytime Bennett speaks, like most agitators away from the ice, he’s as affable as can be.
Almost likeable.
But to the Bruins, he’s far from that, especially after injuring Marchand the game before.
Montgomery, on Sunday morning, called the punch “outside the lines.”
“I think it’s someone that plays the game on the edge,” the Bruins coach said. “And he knew what he was doing. I don’t know if you’ve seen the picture from behind. … He loaded up.”
Army, Ace and Biz went back to the tape on the shot Sam Bennett gave to Brad Marchand in Game 3 and they got some thoughts 👀 @armdog @ansoncarterla @biznasty2point0 pic.twitter.com/kqJRr2px5V
— NHLonTNT (@NHL_On_TNT) May 12, 2024
In fact, TNT, which televised Friday’s Game 3, never showed the reverse angle during the telecast because, let’s be honest, if Bennett intended to punch Marchand as Montgomery contended, he certainly disguised it magnificently because in real-time and with the naked eye, it merely looked like Marchand took the brunt of an unfortunate collision.
But with the reverse angle TNT revealed Sunday, it sure appeared damning that Bennett knew what he was doing when he caught Marchand with both his glove and a piece of his stick. Add the fact he got the Toronto Maple Leafs’ Matthew Knies in the playoff last year with an awfully similar shot to the face with his right hand, and there’s the “history” Montgomery was talking about.
the overhead view of the Bennett-Knies drop looks so much worse pic.twitter.com/X7V41xHmHu
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) May 5, 2023
Marchand left the game briefly Friday, then returned to play the rest of the first period and all of the second. His presumed concussion (the Bruins haven’t confirmed his injury) might have been exacerbated in the second period when he checked Kevin Stenlund and his head hit Stenlund’s helmet.
The NHL’s Department of Player Safety didn’t fine or suspend Bennett. It’s uncertain whether the league had received that reverse angle from TNT.
“He’s sneaky and he’s nasty,” TNT panelist and former NHLer Colby Armstrong said on the pregame show. “He’s a nasty, nasty man, and he means business. And especially come playoff time, he’s a weapon for this Florida Panther team.”
Bennett spoke after Friday’s game as it was his first action since injuring his hand or wrist in Game 2 of the first round. He had seven hits and assisted on Vladimir Tarasenko’s power-play goal. He was only asked about Marchand in the context of how it would change the complexion of the series if Marchand doesn’t return.
At that time, there were no accusations made. Now there have been, so after Sunday’s game, he was asked by The Athletic to address whether he purposely hit Marchand with a sucker punch.
Absolutely not, he said.
“It’s just one of those plays where he’s coming to hit me,” Bennett said. “I’m trying to brace myself. There’s no way I would have had time to think about punching him in the face like everyone said. But people can have their opinions. I know it definitely wasn’t intentional. I’m bracing myself as he’s coming to hit me. And it’s unfortunate that he got hurt.
“Obviously, he’s a heck of a player and a big part of that team. So it’s unfortunate, but by no means was that an intentional punch in the face.”
You’ve got to hand it to Bennett.
He has played 30 minutes in this series, yet his presence has taken over.
Montgomery even took personal responsibility for the Bruins’ not retaliating against him Friday. And Sunday, though the Bruins weren’t preoccupied with trying to get retribution against him and their sole motivation was trying to even the series, they certainly tried to get their licks.
Trent Frederic gave him some shots. Pat Maroon barked at him and badly wanted to fight him.
He ignored it all and kept playing through it.
“Benny’s huge for us,” said young center Anton Lundell, whose second-period goal cut a 2-0 deficit in half. “He’s been one of the leaders of this team for the last (few) years and he’s doing everything he can shift after shift. He’s hard to play against. He’s great to have on your team instead of the other team, so it’s huge to have him back.”
Most agitators thrive on the villain role.
No athlete could handle 19,000 fans cursing and booing your every move and hating your very existence, especially in today’s social media climate, if they didn’t embrace it.
Bennett’s no different.
“I love it,” he said. “I think I get a little extra juice, a little extra excited for these games, but no, I enjoy every second of these games.”
And Bennett wasn’t immune to all the outside vitriol heading into Sunday’s game.
He heard Montgomery’s accusations. He heard talk of payback from the coach and Bruins players. He saw the posts on X and Instagram.
Yet he says he wasn’t nervous at all Sunday, completely unfazed by all the chatter and veiled threats.
“I mean, you hear it all,” Bennett said. “I got a good taste for it last year in Toronto. Just kind of, I guess, used to it. It’s playoff hockey. People are going to say what they want. Obviously, there’s passionate fans here. They’re gonna cheer for their team. They’re going to do whatever they can to pump up their team. We have our game plan. We know what we need to do and we’re not affected by any of that outside noise.”
Maurice feels this is all media driven, forgetting that nobody asked a word about the alleged dirty play after Friday’s game because nobody knew about it until slo-mo videos appeared online the next day and Montgomery spent two consecutive media sessions drumming up accusations at Bennett due to “clear evidence.”
“There’s been lots of energy with this, lots of coverage,” Maurice said. “I think you’ve kinda lost your minds on it, which is fine. You have that right. We’ve been a very disciplined, very composed team. We have. Fortunately, in a good way, it’s gone unnoticed. We’re all right with it.”
As they should be.
It’s the Panthers who have won three consecutive games since Boston took Game 1. It’s the Panthers who have won five consecutive playoff games in Boston dating to last spring. It’s the Panthers who are dominating this series, holding the Bruins to 18 or fewer shots in the past three games and two shots total in the third period Sunday.
And it’s the Panthers who are 3-0 all time when leading a best-of-seven series 3-1, so their objective is to not see Boston again this season and to close this series out Tuesday night in Sunrise.
If Bennett continues his agitation in a few days and once again plays an all-around strong game, it’s a good bet he’ll play a role again in the Bruins’ undoing.
“Our entire team had the belief that we were going to win this game,” Bennett said. “It was so positive in this locker room, and we knew we were getting it. It was just a matter of time.”
But, he said of Tuesday, “It’s important to just to regroup, recover right now, (then) regroup. It’s gonna be a huge, huge game at home. I’m sure the fans are going to be into it. So just regroup, refocus and prepare for that next game.”
(Photo: Bob DeChiara / USA Today)
Christine Lake is a sports fanatic who lives and breathes athletics. With an extensive background in sports journalism, he covers everything from major league championships to grassroots sports events. When she’s not on the field or at the stadium, you’ll find Christine coaching youth sports teams.
