Linus Ullmark has made his share of show-stopping saves for the Bruins this season.
The most recent stunner came on Dec. 28 against the Devils. In the first period of a 3-1 Bruins win, a down-and-out Ullmark kept his core tight and raised his blocker just in time to swat away Dawson Mercer’s point-blank bid.
Before that, on Dec. 11 against the Golden Knights, Ullmark had the unpleasant experience of watching Ben Hutton step out of the penalty box just in time to initiate a breakaway. With a last-second flash of his glove, Ullmark batted aside Hutton’s bid to snap a 1-1 tie. The Bruins won 3-1.
But the thing that’s made Ullmark the best goalie in the business is not a never-ending reel of head-shakers. Ullmark has made most of his 688 saves appear routine by letting the puck hit him and staying in position to whisk away any loose change.
“His consistency, his elite consistency, has been unreal,” coach Jim Montgomery said following the Bruins’ 2-1 win over the Penguins in the Winter Classic. “If it wasn’t for him, we’d probably be down 3-0 after two. You’re not going to come back in those situations very often.
“He gives us the ability to win every night. I think that’s why he has 20 wins.”
Twenty-one, to be precise.
A league-leading number of victories, however, is not an isolating viewpoint of Ullmark’s brilliance. A goalie’s wins say as much about the team he plays behind as how efficiently he’s stopping pucks.
Goalie-specific statistics, though, do play a part in explaining why Ullmark is the winningest goalie in the league.
Ullmark has saved 21.5 all-situations goals above expected, according to MoneyPuck. It is the highest GSAA of any goalie with 25 or more appearances. Even if you adjust that statistic to a per-60 rate, Ullmark’s .890 line grades out better than Ilya Sorokin’s .704, No. 2 among the 17 goalies with 25-plus games. Ullmark and Sorokin are 1-2 in save percentage above expected: .016 and .012.
Add it up, and unless Ullmark takes a tumble, the Vezina Trophy is his to claim.
After all, the 29-year-old has done nothing all season to signal that he is simply on a hot streak. Twenty-five games are too many to categorize Ullmark as riding an unexplainable heater. The sample size, which grows larger by the game, appears to be saying that Ullmark is who he is: the best in the business in 2022-23.
If so, the unassuming Ullmark is not feeling any stress about anything: his mid-career surge, his best-in-show team, even playing on the biggest stage yet at Fenway Park.
“It’s just a normal game,” Ullmark said of playing at the sold-out ballpark for the Winter Classic on Jan. 2. “It doesn’t matter if it’s 7,000. Nineteen thousand. Or thirty-nine thousand. We’re still going to play the game of hockey. It doesn’t change whenever you are or wherever you are. You’ve just got to focus on one thing. For me, my job is to stop pucks.”
Ullmark has submitted just one dud. On Nov. 1 against Pittsburgh, he let in five goals on 23 shots. Montgomery gave him the hook after the fifth: a Rickard Rakell wrist shot released from just above the right faceoff dot.
But Ullmark even turned a flat start into a fiery finish. In the third period, relief goalie Jeremy Swayman had to be helped off the ice after Patrice Bergeron tumbled onto his left knee. Ullmark, back in the crease, looked like a different goalie. He slammed the door shut on the Penguins by stopping all eight shots he saw in the third period, plus three more in overtime. The Bruins won 6-5.
Ullmark is settled off the ice. In the crease, the 6-foot-5, 212-pounder is staying patient, incorporating unpredictability and moving more freely. His game, rigid at times as a first-year Bruin in 2021-22, features more flow, which is giving him better odds of stopping follow-up shots.
The Bruins believed Ullmark would be better in his second season. But they also projected a stiffer push from Swayman to split the action.
Swayman is still trying to find his form following his knee injury. Ullmark has no such searching left to do. He is on top of his game. There may even be better play to come.
(Photo: Winslow Townson/Getty Images)
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