It appears the Ottawa Senators could be without defenceman Thomas Chabot well into the postseason, should the team overcome their rash of injuries to make the playoffs.
Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia reports the Senators are trying to determine if Chabot will need surgery on his arm injury, noting that going under the knife would rule out the blueliner for six-to-eight weeks.
“A league executive told the Ottawa Citizen that the possibility of surgery would suggest that Chabot fractured the right arm when he left in the dying seconds of the first [period on Monday],” Garrioch wrote Wednesday.
Chabot sustained the injury on a cross-check from New York Rangers captain J.T. Miller. Fellow defenceman Lassi Thomson was also injured in the first period of the 2-1 win, with head coach Travis Green stating postgame that they would “both be out for a while.”
Chabot, 29, has seven goals and 31 points in 55 games this season while averaging 22:34 of ice time.
With veteran Nick Jensen on injured reserve, the Senators are currently without four defencemen amid their playoff push, including ice-time leader Jake Sanderson.
The 23-year-old Sanderson is expected back next week after being out since March 7 with an upper-body injury.
Ottawa enters play Thursday sitting in the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, owning a game in hand on the New York Islanders, who sit outside the playoff picture with an equal 85 points.
The Senators will host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday with a loss potentially knocking either team from the playoff picture.