Ryan locked in as the Senators’ hair-raising adventure continues

Like Samson, Bobby Ryan could be drawing strength from his hair.

The Senators winger recently told Sylvain St-Laurent of Le Droit he wanted to get it cut, but his wife Danielle said no way, given how well he’s playing.

So Ryan will continue to grow his hair, which is the longest it has been, until after the playoffs.

Aided by superstitions, Ryan has become the Senators’ best forward in the post-season. He’s been a physical force, he’s creating chances and he’s scoring.

With 15 points, Ryan is second in team scoring behind Erik Karlsson (16) and tied with Nashville’s Filip Forsberg for eighth in the league.

Among his six goals are three game-winners, which is tied for the playoff lead.

Ryan even performed what was starting to look like the impossible when he ended the Senators’ 10-game power-play drought Tuesday night, beating Matt Murray on a two-man advantage.

“I don’t want to say turning point, but a building point for our offensive side of things,” he said after his one-timer in the second period, set up by Karlsson and Kyle Turris, tied the score. “Karl and Turris both had better shots than I did. It’s amazing what not

holding onto the puck will do. You just try to find a lane, try and find something.

“Really a lucky goal. To see it go in, I think we, in the sense, community, took a collective breath there because it was overdue.”

Ryan has frequently mentioned how the Senators have become a close-knit group, going so far as to say it’s the tightest team he has played on. So winning Game 6 had extra special meaning.

“We bought ourselves two more days together and this team just wants to be around each other,” said Ryan. “It’s exciting.”