Video: Bobby Ryan scores using Mikko Koivu's stick
Coming into tonight's game against the Minnesota Wild, Bobby Ryan(notes) of the Anaheim Ducks had scored 84 NHL goals, all with his own stick.
Late in the second period tonight, Wild captain Mikko Koivu(notes) needed a stick, so he ripped one right out Ryan's hands as the Ducks forward was skating to join a battle in the corner. Since desperate times called for desperate measures, Ryan then grabbed Koivu's stick that was lying on the ice and used it to score his 14th of the season and give Anaheim a 5-2 lead
Ryan explained what happened on the play in-between periods.
"We got in a battle, and somehow Mikko got my stick," Ryan told Fox Sports North during the second intermission. "I saw his there, so I thought I'd pick it up and entertain myself."
After the game, Koivu told Michael Russo of the Star-Tribune that "it happens" and "it's over". When Russo asked him about Ryan taunting him with his own stick, Koivu said, "No comment on that. Hope not."
"We both lost our sticks, and I just tried to grab the first one there and clear the puck out."
Of course, that first one he grabbed just happened to still be in the hands of Ryan.
And if you're wondering, yes Koivu is a left-handed shot, while Ryan is a right-handed one. We'd hate to see what kind of shot Ryan would have gotten off had Koivu's stick had a Kovalchukian-type curve on it.
