Florida Panthers forward Sam Bennett was out for blood in Thursday night's Game 2 against the Toronto Maple Leafs, but after multiple borderline dirty plays on Matthew Knies and Michael Bunting, the agitator avoided a suspension from the NHL's Department of Player Safety.

Bennett was not disciplined for injuring Knies in the first period on a WWE-style play that resulted in the young forward leaving the game and not returning.

He was fined for a double cross check on Bunting; one in the neck and one in the back when the Leafs forward was already down on the ice.

“Sam Bennett gets a $5,000 fine for his cross-check on Michael Bunting, per NHL Department of Player Safety,” wrote TSN's Chris Johnston on Friday.

The first play that had Leafs fans up in arms resulted from a Bennett-Knies interaction between the Florida net, when it looked like the Panthers forward locked up Knies' legs and pile-drived him into the ice.

Knies left the game after the first period and did not return.

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That interaction wasn't met with any type of supplemental discipline; that was saved for when Bennett caught Bunting with a high cross check in front of the Panthers net in the second period of the contest.

After Bunting was down and Bennett knew he was getting a penalty, the 26-year-old gave him another hard cross check to the back for good measure.

Although Leafs fans were calling for Bennett's head after the game, and labelling him as Public Enemy No. 1, Bennett will be available for his team in Game 3.

After falling down 2-0, Florida scored three unanswered, including the last goal of the game just over a minute into the second period. With the 3-2 win, the Panthers opened up a 2-0 lead in their Stanley Cup Playoffs second-round series heading back to FLA Live Arena in Sunrise on Sunday night.

Sam Bennett has always been this kind of player come postseason time, but it's safe to say that had the infractions happened in the regular season, the Ontario native would have been given a harsher punishment from George Parros and the NHL DOPS.