Cam Talbot could make his return against the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; TSN5, RDS2, NBCSP, ESPN+, SN NOW).
The goalie, who hasn't played since March 4 because of a mid-body injury, faced shots in the goal usually defended by starter during the morning skate. Coach D.J. Smith said the Senators will make a game-time decision on which goaltender, Talbot or Mads Sogaard, will start.
"He's come back [from injury] every time and been really solid," Smith said of Talbot. "I mean, he's been solid for a lot of games for us. He carried us through December, but so has [Sogaard] as of late as well. These are tough decisions. We know the situation that we're in with how many games [are left] and what we think we'd have to win to possibly have a chance, and we're going to need both of them."
Talbot is 15-14-1 with a 2.84 goals-against average and .905 save percentage in 32 games this season. On Wednesday, Talbot said he felt "really good" in practice.
"To be back for this, the last eight games or so, whatever it is, it's huge," Talbot said. "I've been working to be a part of this. I didn't want to be out for the year and stuff like that. I've put in a lot of work in the last few weeks just to make sure I was back to at least be a part of it."
Defenseman Thomas Chabot could be out the rest of the regular season because of an upper-body injury. He left during the third period of a 5-2 win against the Florida Panthers on Monday after taking a hit by Panthers forward Givani Smith.
The Senators (36-33-5) are five points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. Each team has eight games remaining.-- Callum Fraser