RYAN READY FOR ACTION AGAIN
Sens hope to continue prebreak success
First, the good news for the Ottawa Senators as they returned to the ice Wednesday night following their week away.
Bobby Ryan, who went into the break seriously concerned about the severity of the damage to the fingers on his oft-injured left hand — wondering whether he was in for yet another long layoff — declared himself ready to go.
He was back on a line with Matt Duchene and Mike Hoffman, a unit that went into the break on a scoring tear.
“When you’re starting to feel better and you’re getting back into those stick battles a little more, you’re aware (a slash) is going to happen,” Ryan said of the incident that knocked him out of the Jan. 9 game against Chicago and kept him out of the Jan. 10 contest against Toronto. “That’s the nature of a hand injury, but you can’t brace it and you know you’re exposed. And I took one. Luckily, it came at a good time where I could take eight days off.”
The time away allowed the swelling to go down, but Ryan concedes that he will likely be playing with discomfort for the remainder of the season.
While the appearance of Ryan will allow the Senators to have their top two offensive lines Thursday against St. Louis — Ryan Dzingel, Derick Brassard and Mark Stone are the other trio — the club is not at full health.
As the Senators attempt their improbable climb toward a playoff spot, seven teams and 12 points out of a wild card position, they will likely be without centre Jean-Gabriel Pageau.
Pageau suffered an upper body injury in the Jan. 10 victory against Toronto. While Pageau began practise Wednesday, he left after 15 minutes.
Senators coach Guy Boucher said the club would be recalling a forward from Belleville of the AHL to fill his spot. It will likely be Filip Chlapik, who played the first period of Belleville’s game against Syracuse Wednesday, before being pulled out of the game.
“We knew coming back that he was going to be one of the guys we wouldn’t be sure about,” said Boucher.
Boucher is cautiously optimistic that centre Nate Thompson will be able to play. Thompson missed the final three games before the break with a lower body injury, but he skated for the full workout Wednesday night.
“It was good timing for me, to rest up,” said Thompson. “I was able to work out, get some treatment while I was in California, able to take care of my body to make sure I was feeling good coming out of the break.”
From a bigger picture, team perspective, Thompson believes the bye week provided a necessary mental break from what has been a turbulent first half of the season, including a dreadful road stretch in late November and early December.
“Guys are generally really, really excited to get back this time,” said Stone. “We were playing some good hockey going into the break (3-1-1 in their final five games), so compared to the Christmas break, guys are a lot more excited about how we’re playing.”
Reaching the playoffs is little more than a pipe dream, but Stone says there is still fight in the dressing room.
“We can’t give up now, we still have half the year to make up for it, so we have to keep things simple game by game and day by day,” he said. “And we got better (Wednesday) at practice.”
The Senators will be back on the ice Thursday morning for a pre-game skate, doing everything they can to simulate game action as quickly as possible. Boucher, however, recognizes that catching up to the pace of the NHL game won’t be easy.
In a perfect world, he says, both the Senators and the Blues would both be coming in fresh following time away. Instead, the Blues come to Ottawa following a 2-1 overtime victory over Toronto on Tuesday.
“We’re trying to get into game mode as fast as we can,” Boucher said of his practice set up following the bye week. “Right now, we’re very aware that we’ve got to get through that first period. You could see in practice (Wednesday). The passing is off. The timing is off.
“It’s the same like if you leave your car outside now. When it’s cold, it’s the same car, but it takes a little while to get going and revving. The first part of our practice was pace and long strides between drills and just trying to get the flexibility and flow in our legs.”
Considering the situation, it puts even more pressure on goaltender Craig Anderson, who will make the start. Anderson went into the break on a high note, stealing the victory in Toronto by making 44 saves.