Buffalo Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff is confident Zach Benson will start finding the net as long as the hardworking winger keeps putting himself in the most dangerous areas of the ice.
Ruff was asked about Benson, who's one of three full-time Sabres forwards (along with Peyton Krebs and Beck Malenstyn) who've yet to score a goal through eight games, ahead of Saturday night's rematch with the Montreal Canadiens.
The longtime NHL coach pointed out the overall success of Benson's line with Jack Quinn and Noah Ostlund, and told reporters Friday he's hopeful it's only a matter of time before the 21-year-old rising star starts lighting the lamp.
"I look at the body of work that line did last night [in a 5-4 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs]. By far, they're our best line on the ice. Eventually some of the chances that he had will go. It's like some of the chances Jack Quinn — Jack Quinn probably could have had five goals last night. He had two goal posts, another great couple of opportunities.Sabres HC Lindy Ruff on Zach Benson
Sometimes that puck comes to you on a line, sometimes it goes to one of your linemates. I think last night most of them were going to Jack. But we don't score a couple of goals. If you look at the one goal where Benny is on top of the goaltender, I think it was the [Dennis] Gilbert goal. If you do enough of the right things, he might get one that goes off the shin pad, kind of the same way Ostlund had a goal."
Benson, who's chipped in five assists, has produced some Grade A chances through the first eight contests and he should probably have at least a couple goals. The underlying metrics back up that assessment. He's generated 3.81 individual expected goals (ixG), which is second on the team behind only Tage Thompson (3.91), according to Natural Stat Trick.
The 5-foot-10 fan favorite is still working to become a better finisher — he recorded 34 goals on 53.2 expected goals across his first three NHL seasons, per NST — but he's a constant presence atop the opponent's goal crease and that should start paying off eventually.
It often takes players without an elite shot a bit longer to find their scoring touch at the NHL level.
Take former Sabres cornerstone Sam Reinhart as an example. He tallied a modest 40 goals across his first 167 appearances with Buffalo and now he's a top-tier offensive force for the Florida Panthers, highlighted by a 57-goal campaign for the Cats in 2023-24.
Although Benson probably won't ever become a 50-goal scorer, he may push toward 30 during his peak production years. When you combine that with his strong two-way impacts as a forechecker and a backchecker, he should be a vital contributor for the Sabres for a long, long time.
In the short term, he'd be happy to finally put a one in the goal column Saturday against the Habs.
Sabres' Benson-Ostlund-Quinn line ranks among NHL's elite
Buffalo's analytics have been mostly strong during its 4-3-1 start, especially in terms of 5-on-5 play, but three issues have held the club back: the power play, the penalty kill and goaltending.
The trio of Benson, Ostlund and Quinn has been humming along, though.
They rank fifth among NHL lines who've skated at least 60 minutes together in terms of expected goal share at 65.3%, per MoneyPuck. Although the sample size is still decently small, the Edmonton Oilers' dominant line of Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Vasily Podkolzin sits at the top (72.2%), suggesting the numbers do carry at least some meaning already.
It's also why Ruff, who's been juggling his forward groups quite frequently early on, has allowed that triumvirate to remain together as much as possible. It's working.
Playing with Benson and Ostlund, two of the Sabres with the highest compete levels, is also seemingly rubbing off on Quinn. The previously enigmatic winger has been a force so far, and he was rewarded with a four-point performance against Toronto on Thursday.
Expect Ruff to keep leaning heavily on that line for the foreseeable future while the coaching staff tries to find other groups that can match their level of 5-on-5 success.
It's a task that's far easier said than done.
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