Sanderson's Injury Leaves Sens Scrambling

0:00On April 24th, Ottawa Senators' top defenseman, Jake Sanderson, left game 3 against the Carolina Hurricanes after taking an illegal check to the head and blocking a shot with his hand. This happened in the second period of their playoff matchup, where the Senators trails 0-2 in the best of seven series. Sanderson, who's not too assist so far, is their most relied on guy on the blue line. It went down when Sanderson reached a clear puck in the defensive zone, and Carolina's Taylor Hall hit him high, knocking off his helmet. Officials gave Hall a two-minute minor penalty, but Sanderson sat out the entire third period. The loss hurts big time, as he's the Senators' best defenseman hands down. With him out, they play the rest of game 3 with just five defensemen, including two guys, Cameron Crowdy and Tyler Cleven, making their series. Debuts for the first time. Sanderson's a 23-year-old, who just came back from a shoulder injury that sidelined him for almost a month starting April 4th. In these playoffs, he's been logging over 35 minutes per game, fresh off 43 minutes in a double overtime loss in game 2.

1:07That leaves the Senators scrambling for game 4, down 0-2, and missing their anchor on defense. Playoff pressures only ramping up from here. I'm Corey, with the story. That's your NHL News Today update, AI-powered and always on.