Zach Benson comes up clutch for Sabres on his birthday

The Buffalo Sabres evened up their second-round series with the Montreal Canadiens Tuesday night, winning 3-2 in Game 4 after Zach Benson scored a power-play goal in the third period to break the tie.

Benson, who celebrated his 21st birthday Tuesday night with a Game 4 win, now has four goals and three assists for seven points in 10 playoff games this spring. Combined with 42 penalty minutes, the Chilliwack, B.C., native has carved out a reputation for himself in the postseason as someone who can get under your skin but step up his game when it matters most.

Now in his third NHL season, Benson set career highs in 2025-26, scoring 13 goals and adding 30 assists for 43 points in just 65 regular-season games.

On Wednesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discuss the Sabres’ Game 4 win and the emergence of Benson through the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Benson found a way to make a big impact in Game 4

Carter Hutton: Benson has been a big story in the playoffs and in this series. Even on the first goal, which was scored by Mattias Samuelsson and assisted by Josh Norris and Josh Doan, Benson was the F1 who was driving to the net, which pushed Lane Hutson back and opened up the lane for the Sabres.

His fingerprints have been all over this series, and to think, he just turned 21 years old. It’s really impressive to be in this moment and have such an impact on this series. I don’t think the Habs were bad last night, and they looked like the better team at times, but this series is far from over.