The Penguins have been without Beau Bennett since Oct. 13 as he nursed an undisclosed injury. That’s not a big surprise seeing as Bennett has had some of the most awful injury luck a young player could face over his relatively brief career.
It appears that bad luck reared its ugly head again, costing the Penguins forward two weeks worth of games:
Bennett said he was injured celebrating his goal in the Montreal game. He joked he'll learn to celebrate less.
— Seth Rorabaugh (@emptynetters) October 25, 2015
Yikes.
Here’s a look at the goal in question, which came on Oct. 13. It’s hard to see where the injury occurred based on this video.
Bennett kind of bounces off the boards a bit in the celebration, but it’s difficult to detect any discomfort or to think that a soft blow like that could cause injury, but here we are.
Here’s what he told the media after his first day back at practice with the Pens via Seth Roarbaugh of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
“I played half the game purely off adrenaline,” Bennett said. “I knew something was a little off but didn't really think too much of it. I was feeling good in that game and definitely the next morning it really set in. Luckily, it subsided pretty quick in terms of pain. It feels pretty good now.
“Mentally, it was annoying more than anything. Once I kind of talked with the trainers, it's something that happened. It's something a lot of guys go through. I was back on the ice in two days. I was back in the gym working on my legs two days after. So I didn't take any time off really. I think that was the main thing and feeling really good today on the ice.”
The 23-year-old winger has played parts of the last four seasons with the Penguins. In each of the last three years, he’s lost time to injury and illness.
He was one of the Penguins that caught the mumps last year, causing him to miss games. That was on top of two other occasions where he had to sit out some games. The season before that, Bennett missed significant time and eventually underwent wrist surgery after the season.
Heck, this stretch of injury woes even goes back to his last year of college when wrist surgery cost him all but 10 games of his sophomore season at the University of Denver. He also had knee injury as a freshman. And now a goal-celebration injury.
Players that get injured a lot tend to weirdly get blamed for their bad luck. This whole episode shows that even in the most controlled circumstances, bad luck lurks.
Bennett has shared his frustration with injuries in the past, but sometimes there’s just nothing you can do, except maybe celebrate goals with your arms down.
Bennett says he is ready to play when the Pens need him. Their next game is Wednesday against the Capitals.
