Prior to Friday night’s game against the San Jose Sharks, Ottawa Senators’ forward Bobby Ryan indicated he is dealing with an injury that is all too familiar. In what seemed like a flashback to last season, Ryan spoke on a finger injury that is currently giving him some trouble. He also mentioned that, due to the freezing, he couldn’t feel anything below his second knuckle and sometimes had trouble feeling the puck on his stick.
Ryan’s Successful Night Trumps Injury
Thankfully, that didn’t seem to matter. It was Ryan’s play on Friday that led the Senators to a 4-2 victory over the Sharks. He had a two-point night, undressing Sharks defenseman Justin Braun to score the Senators first goal of the game, tying it at one.
Ryan’s goal seemed to be the surge the team needed to get their offence going. Following the play, the Senators went on to score three unanswered goals in the third. Ryan also collected a point on the fourth goal of the night, with an assist that shaped a give-and-go between Erik Karlsson and Mike Hoffman.
With his goal, Bobby Ryan is now one away from scoring his 200th career NHL goal.
A reminder when watching that goal that Bobby Ryan is playing with a fractured finger.
— Ian Mendes (@ian_mendes) December 19, 2015
Ryan has not yet eluded to when the injury occurred.
December and Ryan’s Improvements
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The Senators have had quite a busy month of December. Since the beginning of the month, the Senators have played 10 games and will play a total of 15 by the month’s end. So far this month, the Senators are 5-5.
Approaching the holidays, the Senators have two road games remaining against the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Florida Panthers. Following the trip to Florida, the team will have four days off. For Ryan, that will give him some time to rest the finger. The extent of the injury has not yet been told to the public, but it’s certainly unlikely that this will be enough time for Ryan to come back 100% healed.
After struggling early on this season, Ryan’s play has continued to improve. He has particularly come alive in both November and December. In both months, he has a combined 21 points after posting just 9 points in the month of October. Following his 2 point game against the Sharks, Ryan overtook Hoffman for 2nd on the team in points with 32.
Ryan and the rest of the Senators’ team will look to build off their success Friday as Ottawa continues to struggle with their in game consistency.