OTTAWA – Tim Stutzle fired a pass that hopped over Thomas Chabot’s stick. Brady Tkachuk snapped a puck to no one in particular.

When the Senators regained control, another zone entry on what could have been a season-altering 5-on-3 power play — one that instead quickly turned into another discombobulated mess — was thwarted with an easy clear by the Carolina Hurricanes as shoulders sagged and the home crowd fumed.

That disastrous, roughly half-minute stretch on a two-man advantage that lasted a baffling 1:28 in the second period of Game 3 is one of many reasons Ottawa now stands on the playoff brink.

Facing elimination Saturday afternoon at Canadian Tire Centre down 3-0 in their first-round series, the Senators desperately need to get back to the level that pushed them to 99 points and the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot.

And they will have to do it without arguably their best player.

Ottawa head coach Travis Green said Friday that No. 1 defenceman Jake Sanderson has a concussion after taking an illegal check to the head from Carolina forward Taylor Hall in Thursday’s 2-1 loss.

“He’s not doing very well,” Green said. “He’s a competitive guy. He wants to play. He’s obviously a big part of our team. He’s one of the better young defencemen in the league. It’s a shame that he’s out.”

Hall received a two-minute minor on the sequence that resulted in Sanderson’s helmet popping off. The 23-year-old played two more shifts, including the ugly 5-on-3, before departing for the locker room.

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Green said post-game it was “ridiculous” that a major penalty wasn’t called on the play. Sanderson registered 14 goals and 54 points across 67 contests in 2025-26 before adding a pair of assists in Game 2 against Carolina.

“I didn’t like the hit,” Ottawa winger Drake Batherson said. “But the refs made their call … it is what it is.”

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The same could also be said about where the Senators find themselves.

Ottawa hasn’t been far away — Carolina won 2-0 and 3-2 in double-overtime to open the best-of-seven matchup — but has strayed from a responsible, 200-foot approach that propelled its post-Olympic surge.

“We’re not playing to our best abilities,” said veteran winger Claude Giroux, whose team will look to force Game 5 in Raleigh, N.C., on Monday. “We know that if we play a little bit better, we’ll start winning some hockey games.”

The suffocating, battle-tested, top-seeded Hurricanes, who have never gone beyond Game 5 in a series they led 3-0, will again have something to say about that with their well-drilled systems.

“Frustration” has become a common theme at Senators’ media availabilities since Game 1 — especially with a largely disjointed power play that is 0-for-12.

“We’re all frustrated the way that 5-on-3 went,” Batherson said. “We just weren’t connected and weren’t sharp and making good plays. Same with the 5-on-4. With that much (penalty kill) pressure, you’ve got to be able to make two, three plays to break them down.

“Gotta be a lot sharper.”

Ottawa trailed the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-0 in its post-season return last spring before eventually losing 4-2. Green said fighting back against internal angst is part of playoff hockey.

“The power play has cost us momentum and (added) frustrations that’s seeped into our 5-on-5 game,” he added. “They’re a good team. They’re going to frustrate you.”

Green, in short, sees a group on his bench trying to do too much.

“We’ve gotten away from a few things that we’ve been really good at all year,” said the former NHL centre. “Whether that’s because of the emotions of playoff hockey or not, or trying to force things … (it’s) backfiring.”

Tkachuk and Stutzle have been held without a point for a club that has managed to beat Hurricanes goaltender Frederik Anderson just three times in more than 213 minutes.

Green, however, is more concerned with the process than his star forwards getting on the scoresheet.

“Points come from just sticking with it,” he said. “If you sit here and just worry about points, that’s not the way you’re going to win.”

Of the 213 NHL teams to fall behind 3-0 in a seven-game series, just four have come all the way back to win — the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs, 1980 New York Islanders, 2010 Philadelphia Flyers and 2014 Los Angeles Kings.

“You don’t think you’re going to win the series,” Giroux, who was part of the 2010 Flyers roster, said of the mindset down 3-0. “You give yourself a chance (with a win) and the momentum changes.”

Ottawa doesn’t have much time to figure things out.

“It’s an every-shift series,” Green said. “The margins are real small.”

The task staring down the Senators, meanwhile, is daunting.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 24, 2026.

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