BOSTON — This go around in the postseason is already different for Boston Bruins goalie Linus Ullmark. And it came with a win, too.
After falling flat in his first playoff experience last season with the Bruins — Ullmark allowed eight goals in two losses to the Carolina Hurricanes — the veteran netminder registered the first postseason win of his career by backstopping Boston in a 3-1 victory over the Florida Panthers in Game 1 of the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs on Monday night at TD Garden.
Ullmark finished with 31 saves to thwart the Panthers and the 29-year-old noted the biggest difference now compared to last postseason is that he feels more at ease.
“Those questions are always hard. You can’t really put a finger on it,” Ullmark said. “It was nice to get the first game here at the Garden, I would say. It was a little more pleasant then starting away for the first one. So, yeah, I felt more comfortable definitely playing this one.”
It was never a guarantee that Ullmark would take the ice for Boston’s playoff opener, though. Head coach Jim Montgomery was mum on who would start in net hours before at morning skate, which put into question Ullmark’s availability. Ullmark hadn’t played since last Tuesday when he left a win over the Washington Capitals midway through the third period due to muscle tightening.
But Ullmark knew well ahead of time that he would be a full-go.
“I felt good. I felt terrific this morning,” Ullmark said. “And once we did that, it was showtime.”
The Panthers tested Ullmark early, peppering him with attempts from the point as Florida held a 15-8 shot advantage after the opening period. But Ullmark remained unfazed, redirecting the shots and not surrendering any clean rebound opportunities to allow the Bruins the time to build a two-goal lead.
“I thought he was excellent,” Montgomery said. “I thought he was cool, calm. Just real confident. Seeing the puck really well. Steering rebounds. It looked like there was a lot of chaos at our net. They took a lot of shots from bad angles and he’s just great with steering pucks to bad areas or smothering them up. It really provides us a lot of confidence and allows us to control the chaos so to speak.”
Despite the strong performance, Ullmark didn’t revel in the first playoff win of his eight-year career. He instead continues to look at the bigger picture for the Bruins.
“It was nice,” Ullmark said. “Now we just got to get 15 more.”
