The Ottawa Senators captain will sit out his second straight game on Thursday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Canadian Tire Centre.

Tkachuk suffered an upper-body ailment after being hit by Ryan Graves of the Pittsburgh Penguins in a 1-0 overtime loss on Sunday and didn’t face the Buffalo Sabres in the club’s 5-2 loss on Tuesday at home.

Coach Travis Green didn’t give a timetable on Tkachuk’s return, except to say he won’t face the Bolts.

“There’s no update. He’s day-to-day. He won’t play tonight,” Green said following the club’s morning skate.

Green is tight-lipped with injuries at the best of times, so the fact that there was no real update should come as no surprise. The only good news is that Tkachuk isn’t listed as month-to-month, which means he could return sometime during the club’s final seven regular-season games.

Of course, Tkachuk’s absence raises concern in the marketplace because the Senators are trying to make the playoffs for the first time in eight years, and he is the club’s best player most nights.

He has been nursing a hip injury since he returned from the 4 Nations Face-Off in February and missed two games after the rest of the Senators had a break.

“Brady wants to play more than I want him to play,” Green said. “He’ll play as soon as he’s ready.”

Tkachuk is hungry to return, but the medical staff has to be smart.

“He’s just not ready to play,” Green said when pressed on the issue.

Tampa coach Jon Cooper saw Tkachuk at his best with Team USA when he was behind Team Canada’s bench at the 4 Nations.

“When you’re inside the league, you know what type of player Brady Tkachuk is and how good he is,” Cooper said on Thursday morning. “I thought that was a coming-out party for the world to see how good he is. You never like to see guys out of the lineup. Fans should be able to see best-on-best, all the good players playing.

“They’re in a fight to get to the playoffs, and I’m sure it’s not ideal for him to be out. But you look down that lineup, they’ve got (Claude) Giroux, Drake Batherson, (Dylan) Cozens, (Jake) Sanderson, and you go down the list and there are a lot of really good players on that team.

“There is a reason they’re where they are. You want to have your full arsenal. They don’t have it. He’s a huge physical presence for them, he can tilt the game, not only with a goal, but with a hit. I’m sure they’re going to miss him, but he’s missed games before and they’ve been fine.

“Sometimes teams rally around when their big gun is out. Hopefully, not tonight.”