It certainly wasn’t the performance Ottawa Senators goaltender Linus Ullmark was hoping for.
Ullmark was back in goal Friday night for the first time in nearly two weeks and was hard on himself following a 6-4 road loss to the Vegas Golden Knights. The Sens had dominated Vegas for over 56 minutes and held a 4-3 lead before the Knights came roaring back with three straight goals to win. Ullmark stopped 22 of 27 shots on the night.
“If they had a competent goalie today, they would have won 4-3, I would say,” Ullmark said. “It’s way too sloppy to be in this league.
Ullmark was particularly unhappy with himself regarding the Knights’ tying and game-winning goals. This late in the game, each of these goals effectively cost the Senators a point in the standings.
“It’s a type of match where you have to rely on your goalkeeper to close the door and not let those two in at the end and make us lose the match. And I take it upon myself, that’s always what I do, I never try to blame anyone else, they do their best in front of me and then it’s my job to make the saves when necessary.
While the rest of the league begins to return to form, Ullmark has fallen a bit behind, sidelined since Oct. 12 with what is believed to be a nagging lower-body injury. It was only his third appearance of the season and while rust was a factor to some extent, he refused to use it as an excuse.
“I’ve been playing this game too long to have these excuses when you’re away or something. But yeah, it stinks. That’s all I have to say, it stinks. It’s one of those games where you really felt that way we deserve to win this one.
In fairness, Ullmark made some great saves in the third period, including a breakaway save on Alexander Holtz (see banner photo above), which was celebrated at the time by TV analysts as a example of “making big saves at critical moments in matches”. “.
Additionally, Ullmark had no chance to react to Tomas Hertl’s power play goal that tied the game. No one makes one-timer saves directly in front of the net, ten feet from the goal, they just hope the puck hits them. And if you slow down the replay of Keegan Kolesar’s game-winning goal, it looks like the puck deflected off Travis Hamonic’s skate or stick.
One of the things Ullmark has talked about since arriving in Ottawa is that he doesn’t dwell on the past, which he says is one of his strengths as a goaltender. He’s now looking forward to the challenge of playing against the Avalanche in Colorado on Sunday night.
“Yeah, it’ll be fun,” Ullmark said. “That’s it, that’s also the beauty of this league. There are 82 games, so we don’t really have time to dwell on the past. So I’m going to be angry today, but tomorrow I hope the sun comes up in Denver, and I’m looking forward to this one.”
It’s the right attitude after a heartbreak like this. Move on, leave him behind.
What happened in Vegas stays in Vegas.
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