'HE IS RELENTLESS'

Right now, Sam Bennett is as downright persistent as that annoying telemarketer who simply will not take no for an answer.
As hard to shake as a salacious rumour. As crowding, as claustrophobic, as being squished into the trunk of a Chevy Spark.

"He is relentless,'' praises linemate Garnet Hathaway, something of an expert himself on the subject of dogged determination.
"That goal Janko scores the other night? Doesn't happen if Benny doesn't forecheck as well as he does.
"You're not going to find Benny's forecheck on a stat line but that's what creates goals."
Relentless is a description that pretty much fits them all, this in-your-grill collaboration of Bennett, Hathaway and pivot Mark Jankowski.
"We complement each other well,'' says Bennett, whose four-point (1G,3A) night Sunday on the west coast inspired a 6-1 whipping of the Vancouver Canucks.
"We use our speed. We're having success getting pucks deep and then using that speed to chase them down.
"When you're feeling good, you're around the puck, getting lots of touches. Sometimes you have games where the puck almost feels like it's following you around.
"Definitely, my confidence is a lot higher now. And that helps. But even when I wasn't producing in the first 15 (games), I thought I was still working hard and sometimes the bounces aren't going your way.
"If you stick with it, eventually they do."
Boss Glen Gulutzan believes Bennett's commitment to doing the right things when not in possession is the motivating factor in his play.
"I've always maintained that if you drop the puck between Sam and most guys he's going to come up with it," says Gulutzan.
"He's that competitive.
"I think the improvements in Sam's game have been away from the puck, getting into defensive spaces that create offence for him. He's really putting the work in away from the puck to get the looks that he's getting and still creating the hard-nosed stuff that he's good at.
"He's starting to get some traction now."
Nor does the coach believe shifting Bennett out to the flank from the middle is the miracle cure for all that ailed him production-wise.
"Some people are going to want to go back to the winger-centre thing,'' says Gulutzan, "but it's not about that. It's about maturing in your game. We were having a conversation I do believe not too long, where we're like 'Well, he's not producing on left wing, so …'
"It's not about that. It's about doing the same things over and over and over. This is a hard league. An everyday league. It's a two-foot league. A one-foot league. Not a six-foot league.
"Position means one foot. What he's doing, it's a credit to Sam."

Aiding and abetting Bennett's rise, naturally enough, are sidekicks Jankowski and Hathaway, who'd already developed a rapport while paired together in AHL Stockton.
"Hath already had that chemistry from before,'' agrees Jankowski, "and I've been playing with Benny ever since I got here. So when Hath came up and they put us together we didn't miss a beat."
Being out on the ice against the Bennett-Jankowski-Hathway line these nights is about as welcome as an outbreak of psoriasis.
"I think (Bennett) started playing well a long time ago,'' praises captain Mark Giordano. "The numbers are nice but you've just gotta love the way he's holding onto pucks, is getting in hard on the forecheck.
"It feels like he's getting the puck a lot more often and making plays.
"That line, with Janko and Garney, they've really been creating a lot of scoring chances and playing well at the other end, too.
"They're becoming a line we're relying on a lot."
A line of bustle and industry, yes. But also one able to finish the chances that their way.
"First of all, young guys, full of energy,'' praises assistant GM Craig Conroy. "Even the other night, when Benny got hit from behind, that took his game to another level. He has that edge in him, and he's showing it now.
"Hath is always doing his thing, same as he did in the minors and at Brown. And Janko's got that long reach. And you can tell they enjoy playing with each other.
"One way you can tell how a line's going is how much its playing in the defensive end. These guys are not playing in their own zone a lot.
"Once you have a little success with a line, it just seems to take off. And the thing I like about it, you can change it up, move this guy here, that guy there, and when you come back to it, those three together still have that same energy. They won't miss a beat."
Pushy. Punishing. All three hunting down pucks with the single-minded fervour of a bloodhound with a whiff of the scent of a chain-gang escapee flooding its nostrils.
"When you get all three guys who approach the game with the same mindset, good things happen,'' says Hathaway. "I know it's been fun playing with those two guys.
"And I think we're getting better every day. That's the exciting part. Hopefully, we've just scratched the surface."