Senators’ Tkachuk, Pinto, Norris to return against Sharks on Saturday

The Ottawa Senators are getting three big guns back in the lineup.

The team revealed that forwards Brady Tkachuk, Shane Pinto and Josh Norris will all return to the lineup on Saturday night when the team hosts the San Jose Sharks.

It was already reported on Friday that Tkachuk would be returning to the lineup this weekend. The Senators captain missed the first two games following the 4 Nations Face-Off break after sustaining an apparent lower-body injury during the tournament.

In playing 56 of Ottawa’s 58 games, Tkachuk leads the team with 21 goals, sitting third on the Sens in points with 44, 15 back of Tim Stutzle.

Pinto suffered an upper-body injury during Ottawa’s 4-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Feb. 4, forcing him to leave the game early. The 24-year-old has been listed as day-to-day ever since. It wasn’t the first time Pinto has had to miss an extended period of time this season. An undisclosed injury held him out of the lineup for three weeks in late October and early November.

In 46 appearances thus far, Pinto has posted 11 goals and 11 assists for 22 points. The Franklin Square, New York native has a chance to score a career-high in scoring, needing 13 points to equal the 35 he totaled during the 2022-23 campaign.

Norris has been having some injury woes over the past month or so. An upper-body ailment forced him to miss a couple of games in late January, and a mid-body injury has kept him out of game action since Feb. 1.

Yet, despite missing nine games this year, Norris is still one of the top scorers on the Sens’ roster. With 19 goals and 12 assists for 31 points, he is second on the team in goals and sixth in points.

The Senators (29-25-4) are fifth in the Atlantic Division, four points back of the last Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference. The team is looking to snap a five-game losing skid on Saturday night.