BUFFALO, N.Y. \u2014 The final image of the Buffalo Sabres\u2019 first-round win over the Boston Bruins was Zach Benson grinning from ear to ear, his face covered in various cuts and scars along with his first attempt at facial hair.<\/p>\n
Benson had just been slashed by Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy after what McAvoy perceived as a slew foot from Benson going into the corner. The Sabres already had Game 6 well in hand, and there were just 90 seconds left in the game. The series was over, and McAvoy let out his frustrations on Benson, who just started laughing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s his game. You see guys doing stuff like that to him and there\u2019s a reason for it,\u201d Sabres center Tage Thompson said. \u201cHe gets under the best player\u2019s skin. \u2026 I love the way he plays. Huge fan of his game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Everyone in Buffalo\u2019s dressing room knew the type of pest Benson can be before the playoffs started. But that first-round series against Boston got the attention of the hockey-watching world. Against a physical Bruins team, Benson was the one fighting through traffic to get to the front of the net and dealing with the consequences. He didn\u2019t back away from any scrums and seemed to be talking after every whistle.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlayoffs is fun sometimes because we see that guy every day and it\u2019s just like the first time that other people are having the Zach Benson experience,\u201d Sabres goalie Alex Lyon said. \u201cI\u2019ve been so impressed with him since the first day I got here. His ability to read the situation, read people and understand the game is high. And Benny\u2019s definitely \u2014 there\u2019s an art to his madness, and I don\u2019t necessarily know that he always wants to let people believe that, but he definitely knows what he\u2019s doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Benson, 20, is an easy target in Buffalo\u2019s dressing room. In The Athletic\u2019s locker room survey earlier this season, Benson was a runaway favorite for the worst-dressed player on the team. In an interview on \u201cSpittin\u2019 Chiclets\u201d earlier this season, Thompson said of Benson, \u201cHe\u2019s a beauty. He\u2019s probably one of the dumbest human beings I\u2019ve ever met.\u201d<\/p>\n
But despite Benson\u2019s growing reputation as a rat and the memes that have followed his antics, Lyon is on to something. Yes, Benson spaced out in a news conference after Game 1 and wasn\u2019t listening to a question. But he might be one of Buffalo\u2019s smartest players. He has said he\u2019d love to be a coach one day, and he studies the game like one already. The reason the Sabres kept him on their roster at 18 years old is because he stepped into the league with the hockey smarts to make an impact away from the puck. The Sabres have outshot and outchanced their opponents during Benson\u2019s five-on-five minutes in each of his first three NHL seasons.<\/p>\n
And early on in the Sabres\u2019 Round 2 series against the Canadiens, Benson showed he\u2019s more than just a relentless forechecker who irritates opponents and plays solid defense. Early in the first period when Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson stumbled at the blue line, Benson was there to pick up the loose puck. He patiently held on to it before finding Josh Doan with a perfect pass to set up the first goal of the series. He helped put the Sabres up 2-0 later in the period when he had a primary assist on Ryan McLeod\u2019s power-play goal. He also drew a penalty in the first minute of the game, giving him nine penalties drawn in seven playoff games.<\/p>\n
\u201cBenny is going to drag teams into the fight, and at times, it creates space because it gets teams running around and trying to kill him or trying to kill you because you\u2019re out there with him,\u201d said Doan, who has been on a line with Benson during the playoffs. \u201cI think that\u2019s part of the game that\u2019s so fun sometimes. He\u2019s in the crease, he\u2019s around the net. He\u2019s letting people know about it after the whistle. It\u2019s been fun playing with him.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the playoffs, the Sabres are outshooting opponents 41-22 during Benson\u2019s five-on-five minutes and controlling 57 percent of expected goals. He has 5 points in seven playoff games with 4 of those points coming in the last two games.<\/p>\n
Point production might be the only thing missing from Benson\u2019s resume early in his career. He set a career high with 43 points in 65 games this season. But he\u2019s already proven to be a top-end play driver and is flashing the elite playmaking skills that made him a 98-point player during his draft-eligible season in the Western Hockey League.<\/p>\n
Given what he\u2019s shown in the postseason, it\u2019s easy to picture Benson breaking out with another career-best point total next season. He\u2019s scheduled to be a restricted free agent this summer and has done more than enough to prove himself worthy of being part of Buffalo\u2019s long-term plans.<\/p>\n
And in seven postseason games, he has become one of the faces of Buffalo\u2019s playoff run. Asked about Benson now getting recognized by the wider hockey world, Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin said, \u201cI\u2019ll just say \u2018finally.\u2019 People really get to see who he is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dahlin had Benson live in his house when he was an 18-year-old rookie. He laughed thinking about that year, saying Benson did \u201ca lot of weird stuff that first year.\u201d But he has become one of Dahlin\u2019s favorite teammates.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is the ultimate teammate,\u201d Dahlin said. \u201cHe\u2019s the guy you want to have on your team. Off the ice, he brings great energy. On the ice, he has that edge to his game. Yesterday he made special plays. He reads the game very, very well, and he has a lot of skill. He\u2019s an unbelievable hockey player and I\u2019m so happy to have him. It\u2019s been fun following his journey. \u2026 He\u2019s only going to continue to get better, and I absolutely love having him as my teammate.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BUFFALO, N.Y. \u2014 The final image of the Buffalo Sabres\u2019 first-round win over the Boston Bruins was Zach…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":225611,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3297,9,11,10,49,51,50],"class_list":["post-225610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-buffalo-sabres","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225610\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}