The Ottawa Senators are on their way to the playoffs as they prepare for their second last game in the regular season on Tuesday against the visitors Chicago Blackhawks.
For this purpose, Captain Brady Tkachuk practiced with his Ottawa teammates-in a non-contact sweater-Monday for the first time since an upper body against Pittsburgh Penguins on March 30.
Senate trainer Travis Green believes that Tkachuk, who has 29 goals and 55 points in 71 matches, will be ready to play when the playoffs start on April 19. Ottawa (44-30-6, 94 points) has climbed the first eastern Wild-Card place conference and will play either the Toronto Maple Leafs or Tampa Bay in the first round.
“He must (practice),” Green said of Tkachuk. “If you want to be at the top of your game after you have been out … He is no different than any other player, you have to come back and get some training time. He is skating on your own a little now and it’s good to get him with the group. I thought he looked sharp.”
The competition against the Blackhawks on Tuesday will be the eighth straight as Ottawa will play without Tkachuk.
The Senators have won five of their last six after earning a 4-3 overtime home over the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday. Ottawas Tim Stutzle scored his second goal in the game 1:40 to OT. Stutzle also had an assist, giving him 75 points (23 goals, 52 assists) in 80 matches.
“Like many of our guys, he has matured a lot,” Green said of Stutzle, 23. “And he is a little different, they are all a little different, but he is a very offensive player and he is still very young. So he still learns what his offensive capacity is and still controlled hard from other teams.
“We just scratch on the surface; I don’t think guys reach their peak until probably 25, 26, 27, somewhere in there. And it’s exciting for not only him, but also for some other guys.”
The game at Ottawa will be the season final for the Blackhawks (24-46-11, 59 points), which is 3-1-1 in its last five after registering a 4-3 victory against host Montreal Canadiens on Monday.
“(Canadiens) needed to win this game to secure a playoffs, so you know they will come out hard,” said Chicagos Frank Nazar, who had a goal and an assist and scored the only goal of shootout. “We knew it, so we just prepared ourselves and had a routine to go into the game, a plan.”
Tyler Bertuzzi and Lucas Reichel also scored the Blackhawks and Arvid Soderblom made 18 rescues before denying all three Montreal attempts in shootout. Chicago led 3-2 with three minutes left before the Canadian band it.
“I’m proud of our guys,” said the Blackhawks captain Nick Foligno. “That to me shows growth in our group, right? To get them to score a late and come back and find a way to get the victory in shootout, it is exciting for our group.”
-Field level media
