Sam Bennett has become the Maple Leafs’ enemy number 1. Maybe losing their main goaltender to a head injury has got the Leafs fans targeting the Panthers center a little too hard. Or perhaps they do have a point, because one Leafs fan is seeing a pattern. A pattern that goes back years. Is Sam Bennett really indulging in dark arts?
While the Panthers center has been trying to deflect the Anthony Stolarz incident by saying that the goalie is his friend, and there was no ill intent, one fan is asking why Sam Bennett is giving players concussion injuries year after year. Seriously? The May 6, 2025, tweet from Leafs Truth read like this:
“This is the 3rd May in a row that Bennett had concussed a player. All 3 in the second round of the playoffs. The first 2 went unpunished….
2023 – Knies
2024 – Marchand
2025 – Stolarz”
Is this really true? We have to go back for evidence, of course. And one thing that we can say is it looks bad, very bad for Bennett. In each of the previous 2 incidents, he is looking less like an NHL forward and more like a guy with closet aspirations of being a UFC fighter, which didn’t pan out. But every now and then, Bennett’s inner instincts kick in. Like it did against Brad Marchand in the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs.
In the replay, it shows that what was supposed to be a routine clash between 2 players coming together, you will see Bennett very cleverly throw out a fist to Marchand’s head, who back then was in the Boston Bruins. It looks worse and worse in slow motion. A surefire sucker punch that saw Brad Marchand ruled out for the remainder of game #3 of the series. And then games 4 and 5.
Even Marchand returned, but they lost game 6, and the Panthers clinched the series. The on-field NHL officials didn’t see what Bennett had done; he was so clever about it, using the blind spot of the camera to his advantage. Or maybe he didn’t know, and it was just dumb luck. Maybe he didn’t care if he would get caught on camera because decisions were rarely being given against him.
This is the 3rd May in a row that Bennett had concussed a player. All 3 in the second round of the playoffs. The first 2 went unpunished….
2023 – Knies
2024 – Marchand
2025 – Stolarz
— Leafs Truth (@leafs_truth) May 6, 2025
Like in the case of Matthew Knies in 2023. Again, you need to see it with your own eyes to believe what was happening. Again, it’s supposed to be a routine coming together behind the goal. But what does it become? A grapple by Sam Bennett. He grabs the young Maple Leafs forward, crashes him against the boards, still holding him by his head, and does a takedown move to bash his head against the ice.
By the way, where is the puck, you ask? We don’t know. And we think even Bennett and Knies stopped worrying about it. Bennett, especially, who, after doing all this, remembered it was a hockey game and went towards the play and the puck. Meanwhile, Knies was left on the ice holding his head with his 2 hands. Yes, he did get up and finish the 1st period of what was the 2nd game. But he didn’t return for the 2nd and 3rd periods. And he was ruled out for the rest of the series.
Guess what. Well, you already know. The Leafs fan who posted this mentioned Bennett was not penalized even a minute for all this. And as you know, Sam Bennett has become a 3rd-time lucky.
Sam Bennett causes serious injuries, but the NHL lets him walk scot-free
The news has come that Sam Bennett won’t be facing any sanction, none whatsoever, for the Anthony Stolarz incident. A forearm to the head? Stolarz dazed and vomiting on the bench? Leaving the Scotiabank Arena on a stretcher and being hospitalized. Nah, it’s in the rules. Sam Bennett did nothing wrong. Like he did nothing wrong to Brad Marchand and Matthew Knies.
Bennett Rock Bottom’d Knies pic.twitter.com/Zh8sblmy8R
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) May 4, 2023
What’s shocking is that Bennett escapes prospective action on his concussion hits. OK, the on-ice officials missed it. But to adjudge it as a no-penalty call after seeing it on replay is shocking. And there’s also the issue of Bennett not getting a suspension verdict most of the time. In the same game in which Bennett practiced his takedown moves on Knies, the Panthers center also landed a hit to the head of Leafs forward Michael Bunting, then followed up with a crosscheck to an already down Bunting.
The call was a penalty, and a $5000 fine was imposed later by the NHL. But then Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe saw inconsistency in doling out punishments. According to him, his player, Auston Matthews, did the same thing and got a 2-game suspension. “We know how that one worked out (two-game suspension),” the coach said to USA Today in May 2023. “We will see. The league will look at all of these kind of things.”
Again, this time, there is no suspension for Sam Bennett. He is becoming the most hated player in Toronto, if not already.
The post Sam Bennett’s ‘Concussion’ Hit Record Baffles Amidst No Suspension for Hitting Anthony Stolarz appeared first on EssentiallySports.
