Bruins Notes: Linus Ullmark Was Nearly Perfect In Boston’s Win Over Panthers

Linus Ullmark made 27 saves, including 15 in the opening frame of the Bruins’ victory over the Florida Panthers on Wednesday night.

“It kind of gets the blood flowing a little bit,” Ullmark said on TNT’s postgame coverage. “Then you get a little bit warm. It’s nice to see pucks obviously in the beginning and we did a good job of keeping them to the outside. Then it’s always nice to get a little bit more confidence coming up big on a couple of those saves.”

GOODNESS. pic.twitter.com/gdU1zMKhdy

— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) November 23, 2023

Ullmark made a spectacular kick save on Kevin Stenlund down low at 13:20 of the second period to preserve the 2-1 lead for the Bruins.

“Sometimes you just battle,” Ullmark told reporters, per team-provided video. “There’s no thought process behind it, just trying to get something in there and obviously, sometimes you try and make it as easy as possible on yourself.”

The Panthers came out of the gate firing on all cylinders, ready to seek revenge for the overtime loss the Bruins handed them in TD Garden on Oct. 30, but the Cats had nothing to show for it and the B’s struck first with a Charlie Coyle backhand that found the back of the net with 1:25 remaining in the first period.

It took over 30 minutes and 19 shots for the Panthers to finally get one past Ullmark, but it wasn’t even a clean shot.

Nick Cousins took a long shot from just inside the blue line that deflected off Mason Lohrei’s shin pad and then off Anton Lundell’s skate into the back of the net. That was the only goal Ullmark would give up on the night and it was a double deflection at 10:33 of the second period.

Ullmark would face only 10 Panthers shots after Florida tied the game with the Lundell goal and Boston slowed down the Cats’ offensive attack.

The Bruins got the lead back right away on John Beecher’s third goal of the season just over a minute and a half later. Jake DeBrusk would extend the lead with his second goal of the season at 14:19.

With the win, the B’s improved to 14-1-3 on the season and Ullmark is 3-0-0 with a .945 save percentage since allowing five goals against Detroit in Boston’s only regulation loss of the season.

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Here are more notes from Wednesday’s Bruins-Panthers game:

— Head coach Jim Montgomery is 79-13-8 through 100 games with Boston. The 79 victories are the most by any coach through their first 100 games with a franchise, according to the Bruins.

— The Bruins were 62.7% from the faceoff circle in the game with Matthew Poitras leading the way winning five of six opportunities at 83.3%.

— With the win the Bruins are the first team to reach the 30-point mark this season and the 12th time in NHL history that Boston was the first to reach the mark.

— The Bruins return home after their brief two-game road trip to host the Detroit Red Wings on Friday afternoon. Puck drop from TD Garden is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET, and you can catch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.