Linus Ullmark rose to the occasion once again.
The Bruins goaltender backstopped Boston to a 2-1 overtime win over the Lightning on Friday night in Tampa. Ullmark made 28 saves in his latest strong performance, justifying Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy’s decision to start him over Jeremy Swayman in the high-stakes contest. Ullmark is 6-0-0 in his last six starts, and Cassidy believes the first-year Bruin has found a groove due a combination of two factors: increasing comfort in his new surroundings and hard work.
“I think it took him a while to get acclimated,” Cassidy said in a postgame press conference, as seen in a team-provided video. “Don’t forget, he’s got two young kids, he moves from a different city. There’s some stuff you’ve got to go through. You’ve got the Tuukka (Rask) experience where you don’t know exactly how that’s gonna play out. None of us were (sure). Jeremy (Swayman) gets off to a good start. There’s a lot of things going on there, and I just think eventually he kind of settled in and found his game and has gone about his business.”
Ullmark and Swayman have shared the bulk of the goaltending duties this season, having started 34 and 33 games, respectively. Cassidy credits Ullmark for making the most of off days and game-days in which he backs up Swayman by working on his craft with goaltenders coach Bob Essensa.
“He’s put in good work with Bob,” Cassidy said. “He’s used to being the No. 1. In between your starts, you’ve got to punch the clock, you’ve got get your work done to sort of round out your game. I think he’s done a really, really good job getting the reps in. I think all those things have helped him. But specifically I think that would help a guy as much as anything, when you’re conditioning yourself to handle the workload, you’re working on your technique when you’re not playing so you can become a little more automatic.”
Cassidy hasn’t announced whether Ullmark or Swayman will start Sunday when the Bruins visit the Washington Capitals, nor has he offered an update in the the ongoing competition for the job of Boston’s No. 1 goaltender in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The stretch run of the regular season isn’t the time for players and coaches to talk the the talk, anyway. It’s time for walking the walk.
