BOSTON — It’s bad enough watching a goaltender essentially give away a playoff game in overtime by mishandling a puck. It’s gotta be just a tad worse for the Bruins, however, as they don’t just have any other goaltender.
The B’s have Linus Ullmark, the man who led the NHL in every statistical category at his position and will hoist the Vezina Trophy following the conclusion of the Stanley Cup playoffs. So, it’s fair to say watching him hand the Florida Panthers a Game 5 win at TD Garden on Wednesday night was less than ideal.
Ullmark, who stopped just 21 of the 25 shots he faced on the night, misplayed a puck in the final moments of overtime which allowed Panthers forward Carter Verhaeghe to center a pass and feed series villain Matthew Tkachuk for a game-winning goal.
It was a clear display of miscommunication on behalf of Ullmark and Bruins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk, for which the goalie plans on having a short memory.
“Mind of a goldfish,” Ullmark said when asked how he intends on responding to the blunder. “… There’s going to be adversity in the series. It’s always hard to close it out. The team’s going to play for their lives and their season. We’ve got to be better for the next one and start on time. That’s including me, I’m guilty of that as well. It’s a new day tomorrow.”
The Bruins will have an opportunity to finally close things out against the Panthers at FLA Live Arena on Friday night, with puck drop set for 7:30 p.m. ET on NESN. How do they intend on getting ready for the Game 6 matchup?
“Same as we get ready for this game and the game before that,” Ullmark said. “We’re going to go back, have a good night’s sleep, wake up, see the sunshine again, and then we’ll travel to Florida and go back at it.”
