{"id":583022,"date":"2026-04-05T03:32:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T03:32:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/583022\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T03:32:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T03:32:24","slug":"jake-sanderson-returns-to-ottawa-senators-blue-line-at-crucial-time-despite-loss-to-minnesota-wild","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/583022\/","title":{"rendered":"Jake Sanderson returns to Ottawa Senators blue line at crucial time, despite loss to Minnesota Wild"},"content":{"rendered":"

OTTAWA \u2014 After weeks of watching their blue line thin out with injuries, the Ottawa Senators<\/a> got a key piece back as Jake Sanderson<\/a> returned to the lineup Saturday.<\/p>\n

Sanderson missed 13 games with an upper-body injury suffered March 7. <\/p>\n

He was back Saturday when the Senators fell 4-1 to the Minnesota Wild<\/a>. Sanderson logged a team-leading 24 minutes 55 seconds of ice time.<\/p>\n

The 23-year-old Sanderson is a steady presence on the Senators\u2019 blue line. <\/p>\n

His return provides stability to a defence corps that was decimated after Sanderson went down with his injury.<\/p>\n

He was the first of Ottawa\u2019s top six defencemen to be sidelined.<\/p>\n

Nick Jensen<\/a> and Thomas Chabot<\/a> followed, with Tyler Kleven<\/a> the latest addition to the list. Dennis Gilbert<\/a> and Carter Yakemchuk<\/a>, 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<\/a>, Detroit Red Wings<\/a> and Philadelphia Flyers<\/a> 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<\/a>, also on the back half of a back-to-back, come to Ottawa.<\/p>\n

Senators head coach Travis Green<\/a> 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<\/a> 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<\/a>. \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":"OTTAWA \u2014 After weeks of watching their blue line thin out with injuries, the Ottawa Senators got a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":583023,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[49,48,20739,82],"class_list":["post-583022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-ottawa","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583022","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=583022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/583023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=583022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=583022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=583022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}