VANCOUVER – Sam Bennett couldn’t wipe the smile off his face after playing in his first NHL playoff game.
“It was everything I thought it would be,” said Bennett after the Calgary Flames’ 2-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks in Game 1 of their NHL playoff series. “It was so much fun out there. It was so fast. To get the win in your first playoff game, that’s so huge. It felt amazing.”
Bennett, playing in just his second professional game, had several scoring chances and helped set up Kris Russell’s game-winning goal.
“The kid’s pretty special,” said Russell of Bennett, who was selected fourth overall in the 2014 NHL Draft. “He plays hard…I think there’s a reason he got drafted that high. He’s a kid that’s willing to get better.”
After the Flames’ Game 1 win, head coach Bob Hartley praised Bennett for the hard work he put in earlier in the season while rehabbing a shoulder injury, saying the 18-year-old forward attended team meetings and video sessions even though he wasn’t able to play.
“Very impressed,” Hartley said of Bennett’s play. “We knew that the kid would come in with lots of grit. … He can skate, he’s a gritty player. He’s built for the playoffs.”
-with files from Canadian Press
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