Bobby Ryan's big game not enough as Senators fall to Bruins in Game 1

Bobby Ryan has had a miserable season to say the least.

With 13 goals and 25 points in 65 games, Ryan had by far his worst offensive season since breaking into the league. He also saw his ice time slashed by nearly two minutes per game from his career average, was scratched for “complex issues” in January, deleted his Twitter account in March to escape the constant negativity (among other reasons), and limped into the playoffs with only one point in his final 13 games.

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Safe to say he wasn’t a popular pick in playoff pools.

But boy did he come to play in Game 1 of Ottawa’s first-round series against the Boston Bruins, despite starting on the fourth line and playing a team-low 2:20 in the first period.

Ryan got the Senators on the board with a beautiful solo effort in the second period, outmuscling Adam McQuaid along the boards and driving past Zdeno Chara in the crease before firing the puck past Tuukka Rask.

The crowd erupted into a ‘Bobby! Bobby!’ chant shortly after, and it appeared to go to his legs as he made another nifty solo dash minutes later.

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It didn’t matter in the end, as the Senators ended up losing to the Bruins 2-1 (despite outshooting them 12-0 in the second period) after giving up a late goal to Brad Marchand.

But Ryan certainly did his part, scoring Ottawa’s only goal and leading the Senators with six shots on goal (matching his season high) despite only playing 12:27. It was a welcome sight for the Senators, but also a little disheartening they couldn’t pull out a win at home despite getting so much from their underachieving $7-million winger.