Calgary Herald

Bennett takes one for the team

- WES GILBERTSON

Immediatel­y after the fight, Scrappin’ Sam Bennett received a handshake from his close pal and Calgary Flames teammate, Mark Jankowski.

After the final buzzer, he received a text message from his mother, Diane.

One was appreciati­ve of Bennett’s willingnes­s to drop his gloves.

One was thankful that the 22-year-old spark-provider wouldn’t require any dental work.

“(Diane) was not happy with me at all,” Bennett said after Friday’s optional practice at the Saddledome.

“She asked me if I still had teeth. She’s not a fan of the fighting.”

Bennett does have a few fresh scrapes on his nose and his knuckles, but no missing chompers or

other obvious signs of Thursday’s dance with Colorado Avalanche defenceman Ian Cole.

His bosses and buddies pinpointed that spirited punch-up as the turning point in the Flames’ latest comeback victory.

With Cole still serving a major penalty for charging for his jolt on Jankowski, the Saddledome hosts cashed in on the power play early in the third to whittle the deficit to two. Turns out, they were off to the races, about to explode for five straight strikes en route to a wild 6-5 win.

Although Bennett only logged 21 seconds of icetime during that dramatic third period, he was presented afterward with the Calgary Police Service cowboy hat, the Flames’ in-house award for player-of-the-game or unsung-hero honours.

“It’s a great group of guys that we have in the locker-room and when they talk highly of you, it means a lot coming from them,” Bennett said. “So it makes you appreciate, I guess, being able to do that. It makes it worth it, for sure, when all the guys have your back and give you praise and everything.”

After being relegated to fourthline duties early in the season, Bennett’s scrappy attitude is one of the reasons that he has started to carve out a more significan­t role.

Heading into Saturday’s tilt with the Chicago Blackhawks (8 p.m., CBC/Sportsnet 960 The Fan), the third-line left-winger has chipped in two goals and one assist so far and is tied for the team lead with 33 hits.

After being dinged for a fighting major, an instigator and the accompanyi­ng misconduct for his turning-point tussle with Cole, No. 93 is also tops among Flames with 25 penalty minutes.

 ??  ?? Sam Bennett
Sam Bennett

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