Every playoff series has a villain, and it took Sam Bennett a period and change to become a villain to the Toronto Maple Leafs, or at least their fans.

In the first round against the Ottawa Senators, you could make the argument that Ridly Greig was the villain. There were a couple of cross-checks on John Tavares and a slide into Anthony Stolarz that prompted a response from the goaltender in the following game. Greig has wasted no time getting his name involved in the Battle of Ontario, going back to the slap shot into the empty net against the Leafs last season, but what he’s done pales in comparison to Bennett’s history against the Leafs.

Bennett’s incident with Stolarz in Game 1 of the second round is top of mind, but let’s go back to two years ago, when he first stirred things up against them.

Matthew Knies burst onto the scene for the Leafs, joining the team and making his NHL debut just in time for the 2022-23 playoffs. He scored his first goal in Game 1 of the second round against the Panthers that year, but in Game 2, he got tangled up with Bennett and wound up being thrown to the ground, forcing him to miss the remainder of the series with a concussion.

No penalty was called on this play, nor did Bennett receive any supplemental discipline for the injury. You’ll see a trend in that sense over the course of this thread. This one hit the Leafs hard, considering how much of an impact their rookie was making in such a high-stakes series despite his lack of experience, and it was hard to see him get hurt on a play that was justified as ‘a good hockey battle’ away from the play.

Michael Bunting was a fan favourite during his short time with the Leafs, but by the end of his time with the team, it became apparent that he was in the bad books of the officials. This was a rare instance where he actually received some justice, but in fairness, it’s hard to turn a blind eye to multiple cross-checks on a player lying on the ice.

Throwing a cross-check is one thing. It happens all the time in the playoffs, and the vast majority of them go uncalled (unless you’re Max Domi in Game 1 this year). To throw a cross-check to a player’s neck from behind, and then give him a second one for good measure while he’s in a defenceless position on the ice is a tough look, and to the officials’ credit, they got this one right.

This one comes to us from Game 4 against Florida two years ago, the Maple Leafs’ lone win against Florida in that series. One thing the Panthers love to do is cause trouble after the final whistle. You saw it in Game 1 this series with Matthew Tkachuk hitting Mitch Marner with a cross-check after the buzzer on Monday night, and Bennett was involved in one after Game 4 two years ago.

McCabe ended up on the ground after the whistle, with Bennett and defenceman Brandon Montour overtop of him and an official trying to break up the scrum. Right as the official had Bennett pulled back, he found a way to sneak in one extra punch to the head while McCabe was on the ice and unable to fight back.

This one came long before Bennett was a villain in Leaf land, but it’s worth revisiting. It was while Bennett was a sophomore with the Calgary Flames, looking to make an impact early in his NHL career, and while not many may have been aware of it at the time, it may have set the stage for the type of game he was going to play throughout his career.

A slew-foot is one of the dirtiest plays you can make in hockey. It puts the target in a vulnerable position, and while Carrick thankfully didn’t hit his head on the fall, he jumped back into the play and set up some, well, embellishment from Bennett in anticipation of retaliation. It’s one thing to play hard and physical, but this was objectively a cowardly play, confirmed by the fact that he tried to draw a call on a cross-check that came from Carrick.

If you’ve been on the internet at all in the past 48 hours, you’ve seen this already, but since it’s the play that has everybody talking about Bennett to begin with, it’s important to revisit it.

Bennett took the puck in front of the net and clipped Stolarz in the head with his glove, resulting in the goaltender being pulled from the game after being sick on the bench and eventually being transported to hospital while the third period was going on in Game 1. Stolarz was teammates with Bennett last season, making this the one rare occurrence where you could make the argument that he wasn’t trying to hurt his old friend, but it lines up perfectly with the trend of plays that have gotten him in hot water in the past. He did not receive any supplemental discipline for this play and will be in the lineup for Game 2 on Wednesday.

Despite everything Bennett has done to rub this franchise the wrong way in the past, it’s imperative that the Leafs don’t give in to his antics if they want to come out of this series victorious.