Guess who's back? Back again. Brady's Back. Tell a Friend.

Brady Tkachuk isn't just back in his hometown on Friday afternoon; he's returning to the Ottawa Senators lineup following early-season thumb surgery in mid-October. Tkachuk was injured on a hit from behind by Nashville defenseman Roman Josi in a 4-1 loss to what is now the last-place team in the NHL.

After missing 20 games, Brady's back to make life a little tougher for the Blues in St. Louis in a 4 pm Black Friday matchup.

"Well, I'm most excited about just joining what (my teammates) have been establishing the last six weeks," Tkachuk told Senators host Jackson Starr on Wednesday.

"It's the way they're playing, nothing much needs to change. And for me, my mindset is just coming in and just hopping on board for what they've built the last six weeks, and any way that I can bring intensity, compete, and a little emotion just to help out."

Tkachuk is being modest, and his return to the lineup is huge, obviously. The Senators have kept themselves in playoff position in his absence, but objects in their rearview mirror are closer than they appear.

The Senators are 12-7-4 right now, good for second place in the Atlantic Division, just two points out of first place. That's the glass-half-full view.

But they're also one point away from not being in a playoff spot at all. Montreal, Detroit, and Philadelphia, all non-playoff teams at the moment, trail them by just one point. So the addition of Tkachuk comes at a great time as they try to ward off those teams and ideally, create some separation.

The Sens-Blues game is one of 12 afternoon games being played in American venues, the day after their Thanksgiving. With neither team holding a morning skate, here are the projected lineups, according to NHL.com (subject to change).

SENATORS (12-7-4) at BLUES (7-10-7)

4 p.m. Eastern, TSN5, RDSI

Senators projected lineup

Brady Tkachuk -- Tim Stutzle -- Drake Batherson

David Perron -- Dylan Cozens -- Fabian Zetterlund

Lars Eller -- Shane Pinto -- Claude Giroux

Nick Cousins -- Stephen Halliday -- Michael Amadio

Jake Sanderson -- Artem Zub

Tyler Kleven -- Jordan Spence

Nikolas Matinpalo -- Nick Jensen

Linus Ullmark

Leevi Merilainen

Scratched: Kurtis MacDermid, Hayden Hodgson

Injured: Thomas Chabot (upper body), Ridly Greig (undisclosed)

Blues projected lineup

Pavel Buchnevich -- Robert Thomas -- Jordan Kyrou

Dylan Holloway -- Dalibor Dvorsky -- Jake Neighbours

Brayden Schenn -- Pius Suter -- Jimmy Snuggerud

Mathieu Joseph -- Oskar Sundqvist -- Nathan Walker

Philip Broberg -- Colton Parayko

Tyler Tucker -- Justin Faulk

Cam Fowler -- Logan Mailloux

Joel Hofer

Jordan Binnington

Scratched: Nick Bjugstad, Alexey Toropchenko, Matthew Kessel

Injured: None

By Steve Warne
The Hockey News

By Steve Warne
The Hockey News Ottawa

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