Alright the first period of this Hurricanes/Oilers game was out of control. I was on my way home from work listening to the game on the radio – parked my car – walked inside to my apartment – and nearly missed four out of the five first period goals in those few moments. One of those goals, was a highlight-reel beauty that will be covered by both the baseball announcers AND hockey announcers tonight. 

It began with Connor McDavid, obviously, who skated the puck into the zone and dished it off to Nuge. Nuge took a shot on net that got deflected to an incoming Matt Benning who went for the rebound. Benning’s rebound gets stopped by Darling and bounces up high off the glass for Matt to then step into a home-run swing. Benning bats the puck BACK at Darling, and the rest is history.

Benning already had two huge hits against the Hurricanes in that first period and topped it off with this beautiful goal. I know it’s still early but he’s got a first star written all over him so far.

In other news, as the Oilers season comes to an end, reports are coming in that the Toronto Blue Jays have reached out to Matt Benning to join them in training camp. I actually just made that up but I’m sure John Gibbons is thinking about it.