Ottawa Senators defenceman Erik Karlsson will face the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night despite a quick exit from the team's gameday skate.

TSN's Steve Lloyd reports Karlsson hit the ice late and did not look comfortable upon joining his teammates. He left shortly after.

Head coach Guy Boucher said after the skate, however, that Karlsson should be okay to face Buffalo.

The 27-year-old logged 27:47 of ice time in Tuesday's loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. He has five goals and 37 points with a minus-28 rating in 50 games with the Senators this season.

The Senators used the following lines at Thursday's skate once Karlsson exited:

Hoffman-Duchene-Gaborik
Smith-Brassard-Stone
Paajarvi-Pageau-Pyatt
Dzingel-Shore-White

Oduya-Harpur
Claesson-Ceci
Borowiecki-Chabot

Boucher said, however, that Johnny Oduya will pair with Karlsson for Thursday's game, while Ben Harpur will skate with Cody Ceci and Mark Borowiecki will pair with rookie Thomas Chabot.

Fredrik Claesson stayed on the ice after the skate for conditioning work with Gabriel Dumont and Alex Burrows, and is expected to be a healthy scratch against the Sabres.

Craig Anderson will get the start in net.