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Thursday morning, Ryan Dzingel was talking about being protected.

Come nighttime, he took a deflected Erik Karlsson shot where he had little protection — skating off the ice and rushing into the dressing room with a towel to his head with just under six minutes left in the first period.

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After Curtis Lazar temporarily stepped in for him on a line with Kyle Turris and Bobby Ryan, Dzingel returned late in the second period with his usual jump in his step.

As for the morning talk, it was about whether the Senators would leave him unprotected in next June’s expansion draft for the incoming Las Vegas franchise.

He has given little thought to becoming a Golden Knight, but his phone was buzzing the other night after TSN’s mock expansion draft suggested he could end up in Sin City.

“It was just funny to see my friends texting me, thinking I’m going to Vegas,” he said. “They have no idea what’s going on. I guess it’s a possibility, but it’s somebody just guessing. It doesn’t really bother me. Hopefully, it doesn’t happen. Hopefully, I get protected.”