Ottawa Senators forwards Brady Tkachuk and Tim Stutzle each exited Tuesday’s pre-season sport towards the Montreal Canadiens with upper-body accidents following an altercation halfway by way of the second interval.
The staff introduced they might not return previous to the third interval.
The incident occurred after Canadiens enforcer Arber Xhekaj laid an open-ice hit on Stutzle, elbowing him within the head and knocking his helmet off. Stutzle stayed down on the ice after the play and would finally head again to the staff’s locker room.
In retaliation for the hit, Senators captain Tkachuk went straight for Xhekaj to drop the gloves. Tkachuk took the Habs defenceman to the ice within the bout however wound up additionally heading again to the Ottawa locker room for additional analysis.
Xhekaj acquired a sport misconduct penalty for the excessive hit.
The staff didn’t initially announce the severity of their accidents or if they might be capable to return to the sport.
Each are necessary gamers for the Senators as they appear to enhance from their seventh-place end within the Atlantic Division final season.
Tkachuk, 25, completed with a team-high 74 factors (37 targets, 37 assists) final season whereas Stutzle, 22, was proper behind him with 70 (18 targets, 52 assists).