Senators’ Nick Cousins out 6-8 weeks with knee injury

The Ottawa Senators will be without center Nick Cousins for the next six-to-eight weeks due to a knee injury, reports Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch.

Garrioch adds that Cousins will also seek a second medical opinion on the injury and its anticipated recovery timeline.

Facing the Atlantic Division rival Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday, Cousins exited early in the first period and did not return following a knee-on-knee collision with Maple Leafs center Jacob Quillan. Cousins was then held out of the lineup Sunday when the Senators hosted the Utah Hockey Club.

On the season, Cousins has made 47 appearances in which he has collected five goals and eight assists for 13 points alongside 39 penalty minutes. A 31-year-old native of Belleville, Ont., Cousins signed a one-year, $800,000 deal with the Senators in unrestricted free agency after helping the Florida Panthers claim their first-ever Stanley Cup championship last spring.

Originally chosen in the third round of the 2011 NHL Draft by the Philadelphia Flyers, Cousins has seen 639 total appearances with the Flyers, the former Arizona Coyotes, Montreal Canadiens, Vegas Golden Knights, Nashville Predators, Panthers, and Senators in which he has tallied 76 goals and 117 assists for 193 points with 351 penalty minutes. With the Panthers last season, Cousins collected 15 points counting seven goals and eight assists with 64 penalty minutes in 69 appearances before adding a lone assist in 12 postseason outings.

With Cousins sidelined, he joins an Ottawa injured reserve that already counts defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker and goaltender Linus Ullmark.

The Senators are riding a two-game win streak and have climbed to third place in the Atlantic Division with a 26-20-4 record and 56 points. Vying for their first appearance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs since 2017, the Senators will look to keep up their recent winning ways when the club returns to the ice Thursday to take on the NHL-leading Washington Capitals.