OTTAWA — Maybe it just wasn’t meant to be.
At a certain point injuries transition from an excuse to an explanation.
That certainly was the feeling around the Ottawa Senators‘ locker room on Thursday after head coach Travis Green announced that Jake Sanderson will miss Saturday’s must-win Game 4 against the Carolina Hurricanes due to a concussion.
“Felt like the last three months, every time we get someone back, we lose another one,” Tim Stutzle said about the Senators’ injuries on the blue line.
“He’s not doing well,” added coach Travis Green. “I’d be shocked if there wasn’t supplementary discipline in this event, like a blatant shot to the head. Shocked that it wasn’t a major (penalty).”
Sanderson was injured on a check to the head from Hurricanes forward Taylor Hall in Thursday’s Game 3. Hall was given a two-minute penalty on the play and will reportedly not receive any other discipline.
The hit happened on the same day commissioner Gary Bettman was in Ottawa and praised officials for how they handled the offside review and subsequent penalty shot awarded to the Hurricanes in overtime of Game 2.
“We think what we do works well and to make sure that there’s no confusion and no inconsistencies, either in terms of understanding what happened or what rules apply when there’s confusion, we explain it out of the situation to make sure that there’s no issue in terms of what was done and what the explanation was,” Bettman said pre-game.
The NHL did not release any statement about Hall’s hit that injured Sanderson.
In reality, a suspension now for Hall wouldn’t change the Senators’ injury woes moving forward. What’s done is done. The Senators are now without both Sanderson and premier stay-at-home defenceman Artem Zub for Game 4, and likely beyond if the team stays alive on Saturday.
The Senators have played with 12 different defencemen since March 1 and have already iced eight of them in this series.
Take Cale Makar, Quinn Hughes, Lane Hutson or Rasmus Dahlin off their respective teams, and those teams aren’t going far in the post-season. Then eliminate the No. 1 defenceman’s regular partner — Devon Toews, say, or Mattias Samuelsson — and they are in real trouble. No Sanderson or Zub is just that.
Zub — who has been out since Game 1 of the series — and Sanderson had a better expected goals share at five-on-five during the season than several premier pairings across the league, including Quinn Hughes-Brock Faber, Makar-Toews, Mattias Ekholm-Evan Bouchard and Esa Lindell-Miro Heiskanen.
Brady Tkachuk said, “It’ll make a hell of a story” if the Senators pull off a 3-0 comeback in this series.
Expect loads of Thomas Chabot and Jordan Spence in Game 4. Tyler Kleven’s return should help a bit, but against a team like the Hurricanes, the injuries are a crushing blow. Carolina is already hard enough to beat when you’re healthy.
The depleted D-corps doesn’t excuse the Senators’ poor effort in Game 3. After all, the intensity was there in the previous two games in the series, despite missing Kleven and Zub.
Still, it’s a testament to the Senators that every game has been on a skate’s edge. If the Senators bow out, the injuries are as much of the story of Ottawa’s fall as anything else.
Shutting down the Stankoven line
Adding insult to injury, after his cheap shot to Sanderson, Hall set up Jackson Blake’s game-winning goal in Game 3.
Hall’s line, along with Blake and Logan Stankoven, has dominated the Senators. It’s been the only difference in the series.
Stankoven, with three goals, has scored the same amount as the entire Senators team so far in the series.
“I think the Stankoven line has been exceptional so far, and the other seven lines are kind of just chipping away,” said Green.
Stankoven’s line has contributed five of Carolina’s seven goals this series.
If the Senators start to diminish that line’s effectiveness, there is a pathway to making something of the series. Sebastian Aho, Seth Jarvis and Andrei Svechnikov have zero even-strength or power play points.
“I don’t think their top guys have many points either. It’s that kind of series, and we’ve got to accept that,” Green said. “We’ve got to fight through that, and I still don’t think we’ve played our best game yet.”
Tim Stutzle has been visibly frustrated in this series. He’s pointless, too. In Game 3, there was a moment with his coach where it was palpable.
Carolina has completely demoralized and neutralized the Senators’ most dynamic forward. Stutzle loves the open ice, and space to create.
“You’re not all of a sudden going to have a bunch of open ice and be able to make some great plays,” Green said.
Stutzle is learning first-hand how much more challenging the playoffs can be when an elite team like the Hurricanes can commit more time to a defensive game plan against him.
“Trying to force things to play too well is backfiring,” said Green.
When Stutzle is at his best, he’s playing north to south. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman had a great interview with Claude Giroux earlier in the series, where Giroux described Stutzle as a sore loser because of how competitive he is.
“I think it’s a good quality to have,” said Giroux.
The problem is that Stutzle’s frustration has prevented him from playing smarter, not harder, against the Hurricanes’ defence.
Green was asked if he has to be a psychologist for his players, especially down 3-0, to keep them motivated and engaged.
“I think that’s part of coaching all the time. Today’s world coaching is definitely not just X’s and O’s,” said Green. “There is a lot of dialogue between players and coaches in today’s world.”
Sanderson has said that Stutzle is the best player he’s ever played with. Stutzle wants to win better than anyone, but his next step in his growth is learning to use frustration to fuel production.
Bettman talks Senators business
Bettman reiterated how much owner Michael Andlauer pushed for the Senators to receive back the 2026 first-round draft pick they initially lost after the botched Evgeni Dadonov trade in 2021. The pick will now be locked in to No. 32 in June’s draft.
“(Andlauer) made it clear to me that this was something important to him and the franchise,” said Bettman.
Bettman also seemed optimistic about the Senators eventually building a new arena in LeBreton Flats: “I think the future here is bright. I’m excited about the prospects of the new building.”
Interestingly, Bettman referenced the new arena being built in Calgary as a similar situation.
“The building in Calgary is coming out of the ground now, but it took 10 years to get to the point that they could break ground,” he said. “So, everybody needs to be patient, but sooner would be better.”