Losing Jake Sanderson, who has two assists in a playoff series against the Carolina Hurricanes, could be costly for a team that has been decimated on the backend.
Three nights after Jake Sanderson logged more than 43 minutes in a double-overtime loss in Game 2, the Ottawa Senators defenseman left Game 3 on Thursday night shortly after taking an illegal check to the head midway through the second period.
Sanderson was reaching to clear a puck from the defensive zone early in the second period when Carolina's Taylor Hall delivered the high hit, which knocked Sanderson's helmet from his head. Hall was assessed a two-minute minor penalty.
And while Sanderson briefly remained in the game, he eventually took himself out after blocking a shot with his left hand from Carolina's Jackson Blake.
"It's pretty obvious why he left the game," Senators coach Travis Green said following the 2-1 loss, which caused Ottawa to trail 0-3 in the best-of-seven series. "I just don't understand how there's not a five-minute major called on a hit to the head. It's a blatant hit to the head. It's the kind of hits you don't want to see.
"It's ridiculous there wasn't a review."
Even if it had been a five-minute major, chances are it wouldn't have changed anything. The Senators failed to capitalize on Hall's penalty. Nor were they able to capitalize five minutes later, when Carolina took back-to-back penalties, giving Ottawa a 5-on-3 power play.
After three games, Ottawa is 0-for-12 with the man-advantage.
"I thought their penalty kill and our power play changed the momentum a little bit," said Green. "I don't want to say we were half-assing it, but it took a lot of energy out of our game."
Losing Sanderson won't help in that regard.
The 23-year-old Sanderson, who had 14 goals and 54 points this season, had recently returned from a suspected shoulder injury on April 4 that had kept him out of the lineup for nearly a month. In the playoffs, he's been the Senators' most-utilized defenseman, averaging more than 35 minutes per game and picking up a pair of assists.
"He's the biggest piece to our team, probably," said defenseman Thomas Chabot. "Seeing him go down the tunnel is not good. He plays such big minutes. The way he plays, I said it earlier this year when we lost him, 'there's no other Jake Sanderson.' So it's a big loss for sure. Hopefully, he's doing good."
For a team that is already missing Artem Zub and Nick Jensen, losing Sanderson almost seems unfair at this point. With Sanderson, the Senators were down to five defensemen. Of those, two of them (Cameron Crotty and Tyler Kleven) were making their series debut.
"It felt like the last three months every time we get someone back we lose another one," said forward Tim Stutzle. "It's frustrating."
Equally frustrating is that with — or without Sanderson — the Senators once again find themselves down 0-3 in the first round. It's a similar spot for the Senators, who last year trailed the Toronto Maple Leafs 0-3, before winning the next two games and then losing in Game 6.
"Just going to keep believing, keep playing our game," said Stutzle. "We got three goals in three games, so it's tough to win like that. We just got to find a way. It's as easy as that."