The list of NHL players born in Montana is a short one.

It starts with Bigfork born, but Fernie, British Columbia raised Bill Lindsay and ends with Whitefish born Jake Sanderson. That’s the list. 

Sanderson, an Ottawa defenseman, has been Mr. Reliable for the Sens blue line in his first four seasons, taking the No. 1 D-man role and helping to fuel the playoff push in 2026. He also nabbed a pair of assists for Team USA in February as the Red, White and Blue brought home gold for the first time since Lake Placid’s 1980 Miracle on Ice team. 

“Crazy few weeks, but just so cool. Such an amazing experience to be around the guys,” Sanderson said after returning to Ottawa following Teams USA’s overtime win over Canada in the gold-medal match. “My family was there, so it was just a dream come true.”  

The 23-year-old had two helpers in Monday night’s double overtime loss to Carolina that now sees the Sens down 2-0 in the series. 

The road back into the series is tough, but Sanderson believes his team settled in well during the first two games in Raleigh. 

“I thought we weathered the storm great in the first period,” Sanderson said after Game 1. “It’s a really hard barn to play in. 

“Not a lot of space for both teams, I think it is going to be like that all series. Tight checking, that’s something that both of us pride our games on.” 

Game 1 also saw Sanderson’s defenseman pairing — Artem Zub (pronounced zoob) — go down with an injury early on. Zub did not play in Game 2. 

“It’s tough, he plays big minutes, obviously my partner. I rely on him a lot, so I hope he is okay,” Sanderson said. 

Nikolas Matinpalo joined Sanderson in the top pairing Monday, while Sanderson had a plus-2 day with assists on both Ottawa goals.  

And while the Senators were a bit unfortunate to not take Game 2 on the road — they hit the post and crossbar in the overtime periods before Jordan Martinook won the game for the Hurricanes — they now have their work cut out for them heading back to the Canadian capital. 

“It was a hell of an effort,” Senators coach Travis Green said. “Playoffs are hard sometimes, some of the games you lose they sting. This one is going to sting, but we get a couple days to regroup, and we get to go play in our building.” 

Ottawa found themselves in a similar situation last season against Toronto, falling behind 3-0 before rattling off a pair of wins to force Game 6 and eventually falling 4-2. Sanderson had a career year this season despite missing 15 games. He had a career-best 14 goals and added 40 assists — just short of his mark of 46 a year ago when he played 80 games. His plus-minus was plus-16, good for third on the squad behind Claude Giroux (20) and Zub (22). 

In four seasons, Sanderson’s 181 points is already nearing Lindsay’s career mark of 224 — Lindsay played 12 seasons with six teams from 1992-2004.  

Neither number is anything to scoff at, and Sanderson has certainly made his mark in Ottawa. Enough so that the Senators locked him down with an eight-year, $64 million contract extension back in 2024. 

With Zub’s status unclear, Sanderson will lead the blue-liners and look to flip the script from a year ago and guide Ottawa to its first series win in the Stanley Cup Playoffs since the 2017 second round. 

Reporter Jon Allen can be reached at 406-758-4426 or [email protected]. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at dailyinterlake.com/support.