The Toronto Maple Leafs came to face the Utah Hockey Club on a three-match losing streak, and high-octane drama ensued on the ice. The Leafs scored first blood, slotting two in the back of the net in the first period, followed by a third in the second period. Then they blew it, conceding three back-to-back. The match then moved to a nail-biting shootout, but that wasn’t even all of it, considering what Simon Benoit did.
While losing a three-goal lead would naturally anger anyone, Benoit let his temper flare when Utah hadn’t even managed to score a goal. The defenseman started the fight shortly after scoring a goal of his own. Yet, despite scoring for the first time this season, it was the ‘superman punch’ he threw at Michael Kesselring, and what he did in the aftermath, that became the highlight.
The Maple Leafs star jumped high, landed a punch on Kesselring’s helmet before throwing it off. However, the Superman punch came at a cost as Benoit dislocated his thumb during the fight. Yet, it was barely inconvenient as Benoit fixed it himself. Yes; the Toronto Maple Leafs player sat in the penalty box, grabbed his thumb, and reset it himself. No medic needed.
“Hockey players are another BREED,” Gino Hard wrote in their caption while sharing the footage. The act left the commentators both awestruck and squeamish. After all, it would have been much worse had he got it wrong. Yet, Simon Benoit was perfectly fine after the match and even explained why he dropped his gloves in the first place.
“I think just in the moment, I felt I had an opening there, and I just took it,” Simon Benoit said about going against the Utah defenseman. “He wanted (to get) his guys going there, and he asked me. Little smirk, he tried to kind of hurt Bobby (McMann) there in the middle face off. So I stepped up and protected my teammate,” he told reporters during the post game. The Leafs star also opened up on feelings after scoring the goal.
Simon Benoit reflects on season milestone
Benoit spoke about stepping up for his team at a moment when they needed it the most. After losing three games in a row, the Maple Leafs knew something had to change. So when the NHL star saw an opportunity to extend his team’s lead, he took it. Turns out, the 26-year-old scored an incredibly crucial goal, as Utah scored three goals of their own.
Simon Benoit explained his feeling about scoring the first goal of the season during the post-game interview. “Right now, I have it, so I’ll enjoy it. Feels good. It’s been a long time since I scored on a goalie; technically, I’ll just take it for now,” explained the Maple Leafs star. The fact that the Leafs ultimately won the clash also made his first goal of 2025 a memorable one.
However, the ice hockey player isn’t focused on getting individual highlights but on winning. “I just want to win. At this point in the season, we just want to get those two points; they’re important,” said the Benoit. There are still 18 games left to go, and Benoit & Co. aim to finish the regular season at the top of the Atlantic division ahead of the Panthers.
“We want to finish first in our division, so for me, as long as we win, I don’t care about the rest,” added Simon Benoit. Thankfully, for the Maple Leafs, they’re just 2 points behind the Florida Panthers, who’ve run into a rough patch of their own. With Matthew Tkachuk out of until at least the playoffs, and Aaron Ekblad suspended for 20 games, the Leafs have a chance to overtake their rivals.
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