Senators’ Stutzle out vs. Predators with lower-body injury

Ottawa Senators forward Tim Stutzle will be out of the lineup with a lower-body injury when the team takes on the Nashville Predators on Thursday.

Stutzle’s injury occurred on Tuesday night against the Montreal Canadiens when receiving a knee-on-knee hit from forward Nick Suzuki late in the second period.

Despite leaving the ice after the incident, Stutzle later returned to the ice as Ottawa triumphed to a 6-3 win, which prompted Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher to accuse Stutzle of embellishment in his post-game press conference.

“When I was 10 years old, our coach had a rule: If you lay on the ice and the trainers, or if the coach had to come on the ice to get you, you’re too hurt to play minimum three shifts,” said Gallagher.

“More than half the games we’ve played against him, he’s laid on the ice and is right back out there next shift. He lays on the ice, he acts like he’s hurt, he sells the call, he’s on the ice that same power play,” said Gallagher. “There’s kids watching, we’re role models, and if I was a teammate of his I’d tell him to smarten up.

“It’s just not a good look. Very talented player, very good players, he needs to stop laying on the ice. It’s embarrassing.”

Speaking to the media on Thursday, Senators head coach D.J. Smith said Stutzle limped to the team bus following Tuesday’s game and tried to practice prior to Thursday’s game but did not feel great after taking the hit.

“I watched him limp to the bus, I watched him take a high-stick to the face, so I respect Gallagher as a player, but we’ll just let the refs in our league to their job and I think and the fact Timmy is as banged up as he is, it’s fairly obvious what happened,” said Smith.

Asked if there was any truth to Gallagher’s statement about Stutzle’s embellishing, Smith responded: “I don’t see it, (that) reputation is coming from what one guy said.”

In his second NHL season, the 20-year-old Stutzle has 15 goals and 28 assists over 68 games.