Danny McCloskey
Just one week ago, the Senators were filled with hope as they entered their first round series against the Hurricanes. Flash forward to today, and the Senators are on the brink of elimination. They are down three games to none, and will try to avoid the sweep without their best player. Part way through game three, Jake Sanderson took a high hit from Taylor Hall. Hall was given a two minute penalty. Sanderson left the game, did not return, and will not play game four due to a concussion. While winning game four is imperative, standing up for Sanderson is an absolute must for the Senators as well. Let’s dive into the details.
Senators Struggles Thus Far
Coming into the series, I came up with five keys that would allow the Senators to upset the Hurricanes. You can read about them in detail here, but here’s a quick recap:
- Lean on last year’s experience
- Ullmark
- Penalty kill
- Sanderson, Stützle & Tkachuk leading the way
- Pinto’s defensive play
Both Ullmark and the penalty kill have been great. Pinto has been just so-so, as he hasn’t been the standout defensive forward in the series compared to some of the Hurricanes players. As for leaning on last’s year experience, it doesn’t seem that the Sens have been overwhelmed, but one year of playoff experience has clearly paled in comparison to the Hurricanes, who have made the playoffs eight years in a row and look like a well-oiled machine shift after shift.
The biggest failure of the five points above is the Senators star players. To his credit, Sanderson was playing well, especially in game two when he played 43:06 and assisted on both Senators goals. Of course, he is now out. The Senators looked quite poor without him to end game three. It’s time for the other stars to step up.
Stützle and Tkachuk haven’t been anywhere near good enough. They’ve both been held pointless. They were both on the ice for the game two overtime winner by the Canes. Stützle missed his great chance to end that game. Tkachuk missed his great chance to tie game three. They’ve both been part of a pathetic power play that has gone scoreless on 12 opportunities. They will need to lead the charge both offensively and physically in game four, especially with what happened to Sanderson.
Breaking Down Taylor Hall’s Hit on Sanderson
Travis Green made his thoughts clear on the Taylor Hall hit that concussed Sanderson. He called it “a blatant hit to the head, the kind of hit you don’t want to see.”
On the play, Hall had a clear chance at the puck. In fact, he had a better angle for the puck than Sanderson did. He had no interest in the puck, though. That’s fine, it’s playoff hockey and playing physical is a big part of any winning strategy. It is then up to Hall, though, to ensure that his physicality is clean. This hit wasn’t clean in the least. The direct point of contact was to the head. In fact, the referee’s call on the ice was for an illegal check to the head call. Sanderson missed the second half of game three and will now miss all of game four because of the cheap shot. Yet somehow, even with the refs seeing it as an illegal check, it was only a two minute penalty with no supplemental discipline.
Later in the game Brady Tkachuk was initially given a major penalty for what looked to be a cheap shot on Jordan Martinook. The refs reviewed it and changed it to a two minute interference call. Maybe the lesson here is to go down to the ice as if you are in excruciating pain like Martinook did, as opposed to Sanderson, who kept trying to battle.
Standing Up for Sanderson
This is the second time this season that a hit has forced Sanderson to miss time. The first time around, it was a hit by Brandon Montour that cost Sanderson 13 games. Nobody addressed this on the Senators that night. Sure, it was a clean hit, but we’ve seen players have to answer for clean hits in the past. The Hall hit was not at all clean, and needs to be addressed this time around. The Senators need to play their most physical game of the season. Brady Tkachuk needs to lead the way. Through three games, he is tied for 12th in the series with eight hits. By comparison, Dylan Cozens leads the Senators with 14. William Carrier leads the series with 20.
A staged fight is not a good enough answer. We’ve seen enough of those from Tkachuk lately. I’m not suggesting a cheap shot on Hall, but he needs to be roughed up. So to do the star players on the Hurricanes. Take a page out of the Florida Panthers book. Matthew Tkachuk is always willing to set the tone physically. When Sebastian Aho delivered a hit that hurt Sam Reinhart in last year’s playoffs, Tkachuk stuck up for Reinhart by mauling Aho the next game.
It doesn’t necessarily need to be Brady Tkachuk who stands up for Sanderson, although that would be ideal. Someone needs to step up, though. Let’s face it, the Sens are in an impossible spot, down three games to none against a loaded Hurricanes team. While winning the series isn’t going to happen, the Senators can at least stick up for their best player. They’ve tried to build an identity based on hard work and toughness. This is a crucial test to show who they really are.
