The surprise Ottawa Senators are clinging to second place in the Atlantic Division, but their playoff hopes took a hit with Tuesday's announcement that forward Bobby Ryan will miss four to six weeks with a broken finger.
When they visit the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday, the Senators will also be without forward Mark Stone, who is out with a neck injury after getting leveled by the Jets' Jacob Trouba on Sunday, and forward Mike Hoffman, who left Sunday's game with a groin injury. It's not clear how long those two will be out.
Ryan was hit in the hand by a puck Saturday.
"There's no need for surgery, so hopefully we can get him back before the last weeks of the season," Senators coach Guy Boucher said, according to NHL.com. "We're looking at April."
The Senators will be missing a lot of production. Stone leads the team with 22 goals and is second with 47 points. Hoffman has 19 goals and 20 assists, while Ryan has 12 goals and 12 assists.
The Senators trail the struggling Montreal Canadiens by only two points for the division lead, but they are also only two points ahead of third-place Florida and second wild card Boston.
"We're challenged now," Boucher said, according to NHL.com. "We had adversity all year long, and we've really done well with adversity and players have shown character. We didn't want to give ourselves excuses, and we found ways. This is as hard as it gets for us this year, but I think our defense is healthy, goaltenders are healthy and we have some hard-working guys with our forwards. I'm sure we'll put our best work ethic on the ice."