Calgary Flames Throwback Thursday: Sam Bennett’s Four-Goal Night
By Ramina Shlah
As we’re all waiting on a contract deal with the Calgary Flames and Sam Bennett, let’s pass the time by looking at a high point in Bennett’s career thus far.
Hello Calgary Flames fans and welcome to another edition of Throwback Thursday! The segment we here at Flame for Thought bring you on Thursdays about something that happened in the past, whether that was last season or 25 years ago.
Last time, we looked at a six-player trade that sent Dion Phaneuf packing and brought in Matty Franchise. Today, let’s look at a high point in Sam Bennett‘s career. But first things first…
WHERE IS SAM BENNETT’S CONTRACT!? I keep asking this question everyday. It’s like the whole Johnny Gaudreau no-contract-extension last off-season, when he finally signed a few days before the season started. Let’s hope that’s not the case this time.
Related Story: Estimating Sam Bennett's Next Contract
But enough about Bennett’s non-contract! Let’s try to pass the time by looking at a fun time in his career: A four-goal night.
January 13th, 2016
It was an average night for the 19 year old. Sam Bennett had gone 18 games with no goals in his rookie season. But finally, in the game before this one, he finally got a goal again! Phew, take the monkey off your back, kid! You finally got a goal. But he didn’t stop there.
Why not get another the next game? And another? AND another?
Bennett opened up the scoring less than a minute into the game against the Florida Panthers. Wow, 18 games with no goals, and now two in as many games? Maybe his luck has finally turned around!
With about eight minutes left, the Calgary Flames are up 2-0 against the Panthers and Bennett decides to make it 3-0. Wow, two goals in one game and three in two games? Maybe something finally kicked in, hey?
Later in the period, the Flames get a two-on-one breakaway with Bennett and Deryk Engelland and they manage to make the game 4-0. You know what that means! It’s a first period hat trick for the rookie!
But why stop there?
It was the third period and the Flames were up 5-0. There was about 30 seconds left, and why not get another goal? And why not have it be Sam Bennett?
Fun facts about that night: Bennett became the third youngest player in NHL history to get four goals in a game. He was also the youngest Flame to record a hat trick at 19 years and 6 months of age.
To be quite honest, that’s one of the only memorable things Bennett has in his NHL career this far.
Next: 63 Days Until the Season Starts: #63 Sam Bennett
But a new season is starting and with the contention window being open, let’s hope Bennett can turn his career around and live up to the highest-ever-draft-pick in Calgary Flames history hype.