Sens fans fear the worst after key player leaves game with injury
Photo credit: Keito Newman-Imagn Images
Senators' Jake Sanderson left Game 3 after a high elbow from Taylor Hall and a blocked shot with his hand.
Bruce Garrioch called it clearly. That was a five-minute major waiting to happen, and a review that should have gone with it. Instead, Ottawa got a two-minute power play and moved on.
The Hall hit got the attention. Elliotte Friedman noted Sanderson also blocked a shot with his hand earlier in the night.
Either one can end a night. Both together is trouble.
Sanderson was Ottawa's best defender on the season. The 23-year-old posted 14 goals and 54 points with a plus-16 rating, and had 2 assists in the first two playoff games.
He was also rolling. His last 5 regular-season games produced 7 points, a plus-8 rating, and 2 power-play goals. The rise was real.
Travis Green loses his best blue-liner with series already slipping
Travis Green was already working with a thin margin. Ottawa entered Thursday down 0-2 against Carolina, and the Senators cannot afford to play Game 4 without Sanderson on the top pair.
Taylor Hall, at 34, has been one of the most effective veterans in this series.
Three points in two games, plus-2, and a willingness to play on the edge. Canes fans love him for it. Sens fans just got a reason not to.
Is this the call that should have changed the series? A five-minute major with Sanderson not returning is a power play gift that often flips a game. Ottawa didn't get it.
Rod Brind'Amour's group has now physically taken pieces off the Senators in three games.
The series has stopped being about Carolina's structure and started being about Ottawa's survival.
Sanderson plays over 23 minutes a night. His replacement doesn't. That's the math Green faces falling into a 0-3 hole.
The Senators' season was already walking a tightrope.
Now the most important defender in the organization is a question mark for Game 4 and nobody knows how much of him is left to use.
A cursed playoff run just got darker. Ottawa has to find answers before Saturday, and the clock doesn't care who's available.
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