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<\/p>\nHis return provides stability to a defence corps that was decimated after Sanderson went down with his injury.<\/p>\n
\t<\/p>\n
He was the first of Ottawa\u2019s top six defencemen to be sidelined.<\/p>\n
Nick Jensen and Thomas Chabot followed, with Tyler Kleven the latest addition to the list. Dennis Gilbert and Carter Yakemchuk, both called on to help fill the void, were also injured.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been crazy,\u201d Sanderson said. \u201cWe\u2019re a little bit cursed right now on the back end, but the guys have been playing awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanderson admitted the Senators have been forced to take a next man-up mentality.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t really matter who\u2019s out of the lineup right now,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve dealt with injuries all year and our guys have handled it great.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanderson had been eyeing a return for about a week, but wanted to ensure he was able to contribute properly. He travelled with the team to Florida last week, but wasn\u2019t ready.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just a little bit of a timeline, confidence, just taking the right steps to feel good and not put myself in a bad position.\u201d Sanderson said. \u201cAt this time of the year, everybody\u2019s playing with some sort of injuries, so just super, super excited to be back.\u201d<\/p>\n
His return comes at a crucial time for the Senators.<\/p>\n
With just six games remaining in the regular season, Ottawa was fighting for a playoff spot. <\/p>\n
The Senators, Columbus Blue Jackets, Detroit Red Wings and Philadelphia Flyers were all jockeying for the last wild-card berth in the Eastern Conference.<\/p>\n
The Senators play a second game in as many days Sunday when the Carolina Hurricanes, also on the back half of a back-to-back, come to Ottawa.<\/p>\n
Senators head coach Travis Green was defensive when asked if his team played with enough urgency Saturday, considering the stakes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s easy to say, play with urgency,\u201d Green said. \u201cOur guys are trying. I just don\u2019t think some guys played well enough. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you ask if we played with enough urgency, I think it feels like are you asking if we tried hard enough? That\u2019s just easy to say when you lose. Our guys want to win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ottawa\u2019s power play has been anemic lately going 1-for-13 in its last five games. <\/p>\n
Having Sanderson back to anchor the power play should help the cause, but Ottawa also needs Tim St\u00fctzle to find his spark. <\/p>\n
The centre has two goals in his last 10 games. <\/p>\n
After a disappointing effort against the Wild, Senators want to regroup Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust simplify it,\u201d said Shane Pinto. \u201cTry to work a little harder. (Sunday\u2019s) a big game.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 4, 2026.<\/p>\n
Lisa Wallace, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"His return provides stability to a defence corps that was decimated after Sanderson went down with his injury.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":582674,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[879,49,48,2467,2461,2468,2460,2462,2463,44,2464,20739,2465,2466,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-582853","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ottawa","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-central-vancouver-island","12":"tag-nanaimo","13":"tag-nanaimo-breaking-news","14":"tag-nanaimo-news","15":"tag-nanaimo-news-now","16":"tag-nanaimonewsnow","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-oceanside","19":"tag-ottawa","20":"tag-parksville","21":"tag-qualicum","22":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=582853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/582674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}