One of the few bright spots for the Buffalo Sabres in their 5-1 loss to the New York Rangers on Thursday was the performance of rookie Zach Benson. The 18-year-old played a regular shift with center Casey Mittelstadt and winger Jordan Greenway and saw some time on the Sabres second power play, but the 2023 first-rounder said that there was definitely a difference between the pace of the preseason and what he encountered against the Rangers.

"It's not even just the foot speed really. It's just the intensity level is definitely raised." Benson said. "It's a pretty surreal moment, you dream of playing your first NHL game and the thing that I just took away was to keep raising my intensity and keep getting better."

The youngster had two shots in the game and was penalized in the second period for hooking, and mixed it up with one of the tougher guys in the NHL in Rangers captain Jacob Trouba.

"Physicality was no issue for (Benson), Sabres head coach Don Granato said after the game. "He was certainly not intimidated and even when Trouba probably took three penalties on him..... it didn't bother Benson. He turned around, he grabbed him and he actually held back, because he could've got a penalty for that........He's a gamer. He's a competitive, little guy that's reminds me of Alex DeBrincat, who I was with in Chicago during his rookie year. He was just a tough player that you could not intimidate and in fact, you probably are just inciting him to do more."

The Sabres travelled to New York on Friday and will take on the New York Islanders in their season opener at UBS Arena on Saturday.