Conn Smythe winner Ryan O’Reilly played with cracked ribs, scored four goals in four games anyway

When Ryan O’Reilly came to St. Louis from the Buffalo Sabres, the first thing he told Doug Armstrong was “let’s go win a Cup.” He made good on that suggestion tonight, with the Blues taking game seven from the Boston Bruins 4-1. O’Reilly scored in the last four games, and he finished the playoffs with 9 goals and 16 assists, and the lead in points.

During the Dallas and San Jose series, his play looked a little rusty at times. He didn’t score a goal against the Stars, and only had one goal and one assist against the Sharks until game six, where he added three assists to his point total. His face-off percentage could’ve been better as well, often coming in beneath 50%.

Some Blues fans wondered what injury O’Reilly had, and would it be revealed after the playoffs concluded. We got our answer tonight, and it explains a lot: a cracked rib.

“Against Dallas, I kind of cracked a rib.”

As the playoffs progressed, the rib healed up and O’Reilly’s face off win percentage and goal scoring returned more to a regular-season level.

If he played that well against the Bruins with a cracked rib, lifting the Conn Smythe and Stanley Cup probably didn’t feel like anything at all.