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Greg Wyshynski over at Puck Daddy has a scathing and accurate summary of how well Bobby Ryan has been playing since his Olympic snub. Spoiler: he's no Martin St. Louis.
Since Jan. 1, when the U.S. team was announced following the Winter Classic, Ryan has posted 2 goals and 4 assists through Feb. 1, skating to a plus-1. He had a .057 shooting percentage for the 13-game stretch on 33 shots.
Two of those points came in a Jan. 30 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning, which Ryan followed with a minus-3 against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Tonight's Competition
Tonight's Competition
Wow, yeah, such a shame that T.J. Oshie got on the team and Bobby Ryan is staying at home. His lack of output is one of many reasons that the Ottawa Senators have been just slightly better than average lately. The Sens are 1-5-2 in the second game of back to backs this year, and last night they lost 2-1 in overtime to the Pittsburgh Penguins. If the Blues could capitalize on the Sens being tired, that would be a swell strategy.
Of course, the Senators handed the Blues what should've been a lesson-teaching loss on December 16th, a 3-2 overtime loss in which the only player who scored was Chris Stewart. Why lesson-teaching? Because the Blues took shift after shift off and blew a game that they should've won. Since then, complaints about not playing a full 60 minutes have been a common refrain among fans.
Dmitrij Jaskin may be taking over for Vladimir Sobotka tonight in the lineup. As Jeremy Rutherford mentions, his parents are in town thanks to the Olympic break, and hopped a plane from Chicago to St. Louis to watch their son. It'd be nice to give his folks a treat.
Don't totally underestimate the Senators, though. That last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference is wide open, and every point helps. The Blues (again) need to go out and play a full game, or else the Senators will make them pay for it.
