Jake Sanderson left Ottawa reeling, and Travis Green wasn't buying the league's no-punishment call on Taylor Hall.
The NHL's decision to hold the line on supplemental discipline turns this from one ugly playoff moment into a bigger story about trust in Player Safety. Frank Seravalli reported Friday that no further action is coming after Hall's hit on Sanderson.
That's why Green's reaction landed so hard. Ottawa's head coach called it a blatant hit to the head after Sanderson exited, and the frustration made sense with the Senators already staring at a 3-0 hole against Carolina.
Hall was assessed only a minor for an illegal check to the head at 4:24 of the second period. Sanderson stayed out briefly, then played 13:19 before heading down the tunnel for good.
That timing matters. Ottawa didn't just lose a regular shift on the blue line. The Senators lost the defender Green leans on in every high-pressure spot, right in the middle of a one-goal playoff game.
Sanderson finished the regular season with 54 points in 67 games, and he logged a game-high 43:06 in the double-overtime loss in Game 2. There's no clean way to replace that kind of usage overnight.
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NHL drops verdict after controversial Thursday night incident sparks outrage
The league's ruling gets even tougher for Ottawa when you stack it beside the scoreboard. The Senators lost 2-1, went 0-for-5 on the power play, and wasted a 1:28 5-on-3 that could have flipped the night.
Once Sanderson was out, the pressure on the rest of the group got heavier. Thomas Chabot called him the biggest piece of the team, and that wasn't empty locker-room talk after Ottawa had already lost Artem Zub earlier in the series.
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From Carolina's side, Hall still had his fingerprints on the result. He set up Logan Stankoven on the opener, then helped drive the sequence that led to Jackson Blake's winner late in the second.
That's what will stick with Senators fans. The player at the center of the hit stayed in the game, influenced the result, and now won't miss a shift for it.
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Ottawa still has to win Game 4 to keep its season alive Saturday at 3 p.m. ET. But the real tension now sits above the bench, where Green made it clear he believes the league got this one wrong.
And that's the part the NHL can't shrug off. In the playoffs, every call gets magnified. When a top defenseman leaves after head contact and nothing else follows, the noise around Player Safety only gets louder.
Did the NHL get it wrong by letting Taylor Hall avoid supplemental discipline?
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