Kesselring O.K. with Benoit's superman punch: 'It’s a fight right? You sign up for it'
Published
The photos of Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Simon Benoit's attempted superman punch have gone viral after his fight with Utah Hockey Club blueliner Michael Kesselring on Monday.
Benoit jumped in the air and appeared to miss Kesselring as he swung with his right hand to start the fight between the two in Toronto's 4-3 shootout win. Kesselring then landed several right hooks of his own on Benoit before falling to the ice.
After the game, Kesselring said he had no issues with the unique attempt from Benoit.
"No, that was a little interesting," the Utah defenceman said when asked if he had ever seen the move attempted on the ice before. "But whatever, it’s a fight right? You sign up for it.
“You know something’s coming so it’s all good."
Benoit, who scored his first goal of the season just seconds before fighting Kesselring off the following faceoff, admitted it was not his first attempt at pulling it off.
“I think just in the moment I felt I had an opening there, and I just took it,” Benoit said.
“I did it last year against, I think, (Erik) Gudbranson. He’s a bit taller, though, and it was harder,”he added.
The Maple Leafs were up 3-0 at the time of the fight, with Utah storming back to tie the game with three goals in less than four minutes in the second period. Toronto recovered to snap a three-game winless skid in the shootout.
“I just want to win,” Benoit said. “At this point of the season, we just want to get those two points. They're important. We want to finish first in our division, so for me, as long as we win, I don't care about the rest.”
For the season, Benoit has one goal and five points in 60 games while picking up 46 penalty minutes, including seven on Monday.