Bobby Ryan and Craig Anderson didn't want to dwell on it, but this Mother's Day likely carries extra significance for the Ottawa Senators teammates.
Ryan, who scored the overtime winner Saturday night to win Game 1 over the Pittsburgh Penguins, shared how tough it was to not be able to reach out to his mother - who died last summer after a battle with liver cancer - to share in his moment.
"It's almost poetic," Ryan told reporters. "It's my first (Mother's Day) without being able to text my mom, but I woke up this morning, and I was able to text my wife because it was hers. You take the good with the bad on days like today."
Anderson, whose situation has also been well documented, acknowledged that Mother's Day is always important, but insisted his circumstances didn't make it any different.
"I don't think there's any more meaning," he said. "I think it's probably one of the first Mother's Days I've been playing, that's for sure. We'll take a little time today and reflect on it and spend some time with that and move on."
Anderson's wife, Nicholle, has been battling throat cancer since being diagnosed in October.
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