The end of the regular season will be a lot like the beginning for Scott Hartnell. He’ll be watching the playoffs from an unfamiliar spot — his couch.

That’s where he sat, frustrated with a broken foot only three games into the season when he watched his teammates struggle out of the gate to a 2-6-0 start.

“It’s going to be weird next week that the playoffs are on and it will be weird doing whatever I’ll be doing,” the 31-year-old left wing said. “I don’t have plans to do anything. It’s frustrating the way the whole year went for everyone.”

The frustration mounted with only eight goals this year and only one remaining game, tonight in Ottawa against the Senators. After a career-high 37 goals last season and a new six-year, $28.5 million contract in tow, Hartnell was hoping for more. Then there was another embarrassing injury.

“I had bad pink eye from the pool when I was doing rehab,” said Hartnell, who wore a tinted visor for about a week and a half after returning to the lineup. “My eye was so bad. It took a long time. I was on a drop for six weeks or seven weeks. It was more embarrassing than anything. Who gets pink eye?”

Then there was the issue of his spot in the lineup. On March 18 in Tampa, Hartnell took an unnecessary roughing penalty that ticked coach Peter Laviolette off to the point where he took Hartnell off the top line with Claude Giroux and Jake Voracek, a spot he had held most of the season. Although he kept his spot on the first power-play unit, Hartnell has been on the top line in only one game since then.

Dave Isaac covers the Flyers for 97.3 ESPN and The Courier Post.  Reach Dave Isaac at disaac@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @davegisaac.

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