Linus Ullmark was right about one thing in his assessment of the Ottawa Senators’ ugly loss in the Windy City on Tuesday.
“The sun is going to shine again tomorrow, hopefully,” Ullmark said after the club took it on the chin in a 7-3 decision to the Chicago Blackhawks at the United Center. “Either way, the sun will rise.”
The rest of his discussion about the loss was a point of debate as fans of the Senators woke up on Wednesday.
The 32-year-old Ullmark told reporters in Chicago that the Senators didn’t play the way they needed to win after scoring a 7-1 victory over the Washington Capitals on Saturday on the road and a 7-2 decision over the Boston Bruins on Monday at home.
The veteran goaltender raised eyebrows after he gave up six goals on 19 shots against the Hawks, including four on nine shots in a first period that saw Ottawa fall behind 4-0. He wasn’t great, but neither was his team.
“There was a little bit of immaturity today,” Ullmark said. “It’s not easy winning in this league. You can’t go out there putting up seven two nights in a row and then expect to do it a third time.
“It has to come, especially in back-to-backs, there is a skill to playing in back-to-backs. It’s really tough, especially when you travel as well. And there are a lot of things today, I think that we could have done better.
“We just have to look at ourselves in the mirror and come to terms with what we did learn from it and move on.”
Ullmark maintained that the Senators didn’t take the right approach in the first and that’s why they fell behind. The club did come charging back with a strong effort in the second to cut the deficit to 4-3, but that’s as close as the Senators would get.
Connor Bedard completed his first National Hockey League career hat trick and that was all she wrote. Ullmark did say he could have been better in the third, but his performance in the first wasn’t up to par either.
“It’s all about keeping it simple, keeping it simple in the first period and don’t let them have anything,” Ullmark said. “Keep your shift shorts, certain things that we talked about. The guys know that as well.
“But like I said, it takes maturity to do it and not cheat the game. That’s all there is. We did a great job in the second coming back to make it a really good game. We got away from it again in the third. Unfortunately, I didn’t come up with any big saves at that point as well, which causes the game to run away from us.”
Coach Travis Green dismissed the immaturity remark as Ullmark being “frustrated.”
Ullmark is right, the Senators didn’t play great in front of him, but he didn’t make the big saves necessary when the club was on its heels.
The opening goal by Colton Dach, on a delayed penalty, was the result of Ullmark not being able to get across the net fast enough to make the stop at 6:47 of the first — and it went downhill from there.
The Senators have the second-worst team save percentage in the league at .841. Only the St. Louis Blues are worse — and they’ve got Team Canada goalie Jordan Binnington in net.
Ullmark has posted a 4-4-1 record in nine appearances this season with a 3.44 goals-against average and a .858 save percentage. That has him ranked No. 17 in the NHL and the Senators are in a playoff position.
People will make a lot of the fact that the Senators gave Ullmark Monday off to prepare for the Hawks — present company included — but this is where the NHL is headed, and it’s why there is a third goalie in the new collective bargaining agreement.
We have to accept this is the new normal.
Related
Last year, Ullmark told TSN 1200’s Gord Wilson that his approach is simple: If you have one bad game, don’t have two. Ullmark and his teammates have a strong ability to bounce back from losses like the one against the Hawks.
The issue is that, through the first 11 games of the season, there has been a lot of inconsistency with this group and the challenge has been made more difficult by the injury to captain Brady Tkachuk.
Everybody needs to do their jobs, including Ullmark and backup Leevi Merilainen. A lot of success is about goaltending.
The Senators have no choice but to look ahead. The Calgary Flames are in town on Thursday.
“That’s the beauty of it,” Ullmark said. “We have another game against another Canadian team at home, in front of our fans, which is going to be a lot of fun. The best place to play hockey is at home in Ottawa.”
Especially when the Senators are winning.