Benoit surprise OT hero, again, for Maple Leafs against Senators

OTTAWA -- At Stanley Cup Playoff time, when unsung heroes rise to the forefront, they don't get any more unsung than Simon Benoit.

Or, in this case, Mr. Overtime of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

When the Maple Leafs most needed it for the second consecutive game, when one special moment was the narrow difference between a win and a loss, it wasn’t one of Toronto’s stars like Auston Matthews or William Nylander or Mitch Marner who saved the day.

Instead, it was a 26-year-old, third-pair defenseman from Laval, Quebec, who proved to be the difference-maker by beating goalie Linus Ullmark at 1:19 of overtime to give the Maple Leafs a 3-2 victory against the Ottawa Senators in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference First Round at a raucous Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday.

When asked afterward if it was the biggest goal of his life, he shrugged his shoulders and said, “I don’t score (many) goals, so I would say yeah.”

That being the case, what would his second biggest be?

“Probably peewee or something,” he replied, causing the room full of reporters attending his postgame press conference to burst out in laughter.

“No, it’s fine,” he continued, wearing a big grin. “I mean, in the playoffs, it’s not always the same guys. It’s fun when other guys get a good goal, because we know it’s hard to score in the playoffs.

“So, getting that goal was exciting, that’s for sure.”

Not just for him.

Indeed, the entire Maple Leafs team now finds itself up 3-0 in the best-of-7 series heading into Game 4 in Ottawa on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; TBS, CBC, TVAS, SN, truTV, MAX), much to the glee of its faithful long-suffering fanbase. If they can somehow finish off the Senators in front of a national television audience on "Hockey Night in Canada" that evening, it would be just the second postseason series victory by Toronto in the past two decades, the other coming in 2023, when it defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games in the first round.

It would also be the first time the Maple Leafs completed a four-game sweep in the postseason since the 2001 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals against this same Senators franchise.

The similarities don’t end there.

In Game 3 of that 2001 series, it was a depth defenseman, Cory Cross, who scored within the first three minutes of overtime to give Toronto a 3-2 win against Ottawa.

In Game 3 of the 2025 series, it was another depth defenseman, Benoit, who did the same in a game the Maple Leafs won by the same score.

And when you look at the path he took to get here, he definitely is a poster child for the term “unlikely hero.”

Benoit began his professional career as a free agent with San Diego of the American Hockey League in 2018-19. He played three seasons with the Anaheim Ducks from 2020-23 before signing a one-year contract with Toronto worth $775,000 on August 28, 2023. Seven months later, he agreed to a three-year contract with an average annual value of $1.35 million.

He certainly wasn’t being paid for his offense. Consider the numbers.

Beginning in 2010 when he was in peewee, Benoit has never scored more than five goals in a season at any level. In 279 NHL regular-season games, he has six goals to go along with 24 assists.

Offense obviously isn’t his forte. Blocking shots and playing physical is.

At least until this series, anyway.

Then came Game 2 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Tuesday. And there he was in overtime, breaking down the right wing before setting up teammate Max Domi for the game-winner.

Just 48 hours later, he scored it himself.

And his jubilant teammates couldn’t be happier for him.

“He’s a hell of a human being and a hell of a player,” said goalie Anthony Stolarz, who made 18 saves in the win. “He’s one of the real characters on our team and kind of the heart and soul.

“I played with him in San Diego and Anaheim for a few years so I got to know him extremely well. And when I signed here (last summer), just knowing who he was, the type of person he was, how he played, it’s extremely exciting for him to be able to get that goal tonight.

“I mean, I think with two seconds left (in regulation), he blocked two shots there. Guys are just teeing off, trying to take slap shots, and Benny’s sacrificing his body and just kind of laying it all on the line.”

That’s what Simon Benoit does.

What he normally doesn't do is be an offensive difference-maker.

Yet that’s exactly what he was when Matthews won a key face-off early in overtime in the Ottawa zone and got the puck back to Benoit, whose shot from above the left circle zipped through traffic into the net.

“In the last two overtimes he's made big plays for our team,” Matthews said. “He’s come up big on the offensive side of the puck as well as the defensive side. So, it’s great to see.

“You need guys like that to step up this time of year. It takes a full group effort. And it’s great to see.”

It's been a roller-coaster ride for Benoit dating back to the beginning of training camp, when he became a father for the first time. He admits sleep was hard to come by in those early days, and he struggled on the ice in the early part of the season.

He said he’s thankful Maple Leafs management and coaches were patient with him.

So, too, are they, especially after what he’s been able to accomplish against the Senators.

“I guess in the playoffs anything can happen,” he said with a grin.

He is, after all, a prime example of that.