Senators coach Travis Green expects Brady Tkachuk to face the Leafs

The Ottawa Senators expect to have all hands on deck Battle of Ontario.

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While Brady Tkachuk finished the club’s 6-3 victory over the Boston Bruins on Thursday night as a spectator, coach Travis Green told reporters after the game that the club’s captain would be fine.

Tkachuk was on the bench but he didn’t play the final six minutes and 36 seconds of the game. He was dealing with a hip issue and didn’t want to exasperate it any further with the Senators clinging to a two-goal lead.

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The Senators didn’t skate on Friday before taking their Air Canada Jetz charter to Toronto in the afternoon, so we’ll have to wait and see if Tkachuk is ready to face the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night at Scotiabank Arena in a big Atlantic Division matchup.

But the news from Green sounded promising following the game.

“He tweaked his hip a little but I expect he’ll be all right,” Green said.

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We’ll have to wait until after Saturday’s morning skate in Toronto to get the firm word that Tkachuk is playing.

Tkachuk stayed on the bench to watch the final few minutes of the third period but this is cause for concern. The nine shifts he did take in the period were mostly short but he finished with 16:36 of ice time in the 25 shifts he played.

Still, Tkachuk’s absence was cause for concern because after suiting up for Team USA came back from the 4 Nations Face-Off with an undisclosed ailment that forced him to miss two games.

Tkachuk was noticeably limping when he walked into Boston’s TD Garden for the final but played more than 19 minutes against Canada in Team USA’s loss.

bgarrioch@postmedia.com

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