OTTAWA — It’s hard to win in the playoffs without your captain.
That statement is especially true for the Ottawa Senators with their own leader of men, Brady Tkachuk.
In Game 82 on Thursday, the injury-stricken Tkachuk returned to the lineup for the first time since suffering an upper-body injury on March 30. The idea was for Tkachuk to come back for the final game, to be as best prepared as possible for his first playoff endeavour.
Newsflash, Ottawa won’t beat their archrival Toronto Maple Leafs in the playoffs if their captain isn’t playing at his peak. That’s why a meaningless regular-season finale was needed for Tkachuk to reacclimate.
“The first couple shifts (were) entertaining for sure,” Tkachuk joked post-game.
Unfortunately, for a moment, the decision to play Tkachuk in a nothing game seemed to have backfired immensely for the Senators.
In Ottawa’s 7-5 win over the Carolina Hurricanes, Tkachuk left for precautionary reasons in the final frame after taking a high stick late in the second period. But thankfully for hockey and Senators fans, he says he’s good to go for Game 1 against Toronto.
“Obviously precautionary,” said Tkachuk post-game as to why he exited the game.
“(Got) a couple sticks to the face, and the plan was, I wasn`t going to play much tonight, just to get my legs underneath me.”
