Linus Ullmark had a shot at redemption on Monday.
He couldn’t do it all by himself.
The club’s top goaltender gave the Ottawa Senators a chance to win.
Still, even he had admired the 30 saves made by Nashville Predators netminder Juuse Saros in a 4-1 win over the Senators on Monday afternoon at the Canadian Tire Centre.
“Sometimes you run into a hot goaltender,” said Ullmark. “I’ve been on the other side of the coin of that as well during my career. You’ve got to give credit to Juuse as well. He played a stellar game.
“We had our opportunities, and, unfortunately, they didn’t bury them. They got that second goal as well, when we were hunting, and it deflated us a little bit. But, at the same time, we didn’t cave in. We made it 2-1.”
Claude Giroux from the Ottawa Senators trying to score on Nashville Predators goalie Juuse Saros during second period action at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa Monday. Monday was the Ottawa Senators home opener.
Ullmark made 22 stops on the 24 shots he faced. The final score doesn’t reflect how close this really was. Ridly Greig pulled the Senators to within a goal with 2:03 remaining in the third, but Nashville scored twice with Ullmark pulled to salt the two points away.
Coach Travis Green and goalie coach Justin Peters had toyed with the idea of giving backup Leevi Merialinen the start in one of the first three games. It made sense to have Ullmark start for the home opener.
Had the Senators not given Ullmark the chance here, it would have reminded the long-serving faithful in this marketplace of 2015 when Dave Cameron used backup Matt O’Connor ahead of Craig Anderson.
Ullmark is the franchise goalie. He’s the guy this club is going to rely on if the Senators are to return to the playoffs for the second straight year. They need him to find his game quickly and be consistent.
His four-year, $33 million U.S. extension, which pays him $8.25 million per season, has kicked in. Ullmark has good self-awareness, and he wouldn’t be the least pleased with the .808 save percentage he had after the first two games. He had allowed 10 goals on 52 shots in his first two games.
Ullmark didn’t get the win on Monday, but that was through no fault of his own. He did his job keeping his team in it, and even he could see that his game took a big step in the right direction towards success.
One of the things we’ve learned about Ullmark in the last 12 months is that if he has one bad game, he doesn’t usually have two. That’s why Green and Peters had to allow Ullmark to bounce back.
Linus Ullmark of the Ottawa Senators makes a save against Roman Josi of the Nashville Predators during second-period action at the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa Monday.
Ullmark wasn’t at his best against the Panthers. He couldn’t make the big stops and gave up at least three goals he’d want back. But it wasn’t all on him because the Senators didn’t play well.
The Senators were much better defensively in this one against Nashville. The club limited the Predators’ scoring chances.
That was the message the coaching staff was sending by giving Ullmark the net on Monday. One way or another, Merilainen will make his first start this week — on Wednesday against the Buffalo Sabres on the road or, more likely, against the Seattle Kraken at home on Thursday night.
There wasn’t a lot Ullmark could do on the opening goal by the Predators that broke a scoreless tie at 12:11 of the second. Jonathan Marchessault was all alone in front and was able to capitalize by beating Ullmark low.
That opportunity materialized after Dylan Cozens couldn’t handle a loose puck near the blueline, and Erik Haula was able to chip it to keep it in. Cozens should have got it out.
“Definitely, the process we talked about was a lot better today, and there are a lot more things to bring to the future compared to the last game against Florida,” Ullmark said. “We kept them from scoring (while we were) on the PK as well.
“That’s something I feel I have a lot of responsibility for. I’m happy with that. If we stick with the process, the results will come. It’s early in the season, and there is nothing to worry about. We’re playing good. It’s tough to win, and sometimes that enables you to win, and sometimes you lose.”
Ullmark got off to a good start in the first. He made back-to-back strong stops on a Nashville power play. That came with Nick Jensen in the box for a delay of game penalty for a puck over the glass.
There has been a lot of criticism of the Senators’ penalty kill early in the year, and rightfully so. But your goaltender has to be your best killer by making the stops, and Ullmark was key against the Preds.
Nashville was 0-for-6 on the power play in this one.
“I felt like we were a little more sure what we were doing and there was less hesitation from everybody,” Ullmark said.
Nobody hesitated to say that Ullmark gave his club a chance to win. That’s all the Senators can ask.
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