Ottawa Senators forwards Brady Tkachuk and Tim Stutzle both exited Tuesday’s pre-season game against the Montreal Canadiens with upper-body injuries following an altercation midway through the second period.
The team announced they would not return prior to the third period.
The incident occurred after Canadiens enforcer Arber Xhekaj laid an open-ice hit on Stutzle, elbowing him in the head and knocking his helmet off. Stutzle stayed down on the ice after the play and would eventually head back to the team’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 in the bout but wound up also heading back to the Ottawa locker room for further evaluation.
Xhekaj received a game misconduct penalty for the high hit.
The team did not initially announce the severity of their injuries or if they would be able to return to the game.
Both are important players for the Senators as they look to improve from their seventh-place finish in the Atlantic Division last season.
Tkachuk, 25, finished with a team-high 74 points (37 goals, 37 assists) last season while Stutzle, 22, was right behind him with 70 (18 goals, 52 assists).