Bruins Notes: Linus Ullmark Continues Boston’s Shutout Streak In Nashville

Boston Bruins goalie Linus Ullmark watched Jeremy Swayman shut out the Predators on Nashville’s home ice each of the last two seasons.

Ullmark made sure to take his turn in doing the same Tuesday night.

Ullmark delivered one of his best performances of the season as he stopped all 31 shots that came his way in Boston’s 3-0 win at Bridgestone Arena. And due to Ullmark’s standout showing, the Bruins have gone 180 minutes without allowing a goal in Nashville.

“Spectacular,” Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery told reporters of Ullmark, per team-provided video. “I thought their goalie was really good, too. But our goalie was like an onslaught. He had to be down in his crouch, he had to be finding pucks through all the traffic. A lot of great plays that they were able to make at times, and he made some saves look easy.”

Ullmark has been on top of his game as of late after enduring a stretch when he didn’t record a win from mid-February to early March. Ullmark has won four out of his last six starts and made at least 28 saves in four of those contests.

Ullmark couldn’t blink in Boston’s net with Predators goalie Juuse Saros pitching a shutout on the other end deep into the third period. But unlike Saros, Ullmark never cracked.

“You got to look at the team game we had in front of me as well,” Ullmark told reporters. “Played a full 60 minutes. Showed that we don’t get frustrated easily and we stick with it.”

The Bruins didn’t just receive timely saves for Ullmark. He also factored into Boston’s first goal to break a scoreless deadlock. He got things going when he cleared the puck on the penalty kill to allow Brad Marchand to set up Charlie Coyle for a goal. Ullmark was rewarded by being credited with an assist.

“I got a hold of it. I didn’t have (much) time to really look up and make a clear play to Brandon or any of the other D,” Ullmark said. “So, I just tried to send it as hard and high as possible. Brad does a great job reading off of that.”

Here are more notes from Tuesday’s Bruins-Predators game:

— Coyle came through with a timely tally as he scored a shorthanded goal on a breakaway to open the scoring with 6:42 left. The goal, which helped Coyle tie his career high for points (56) in a season, served as a big energy boost for the Bruins.

“It’s been a little while since we’ve gotten a shorty like that,” Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo told reporters. “It’s a different type of energy when you score those goals. It can deflate their power play not only, but the flow of the game. Structurally we did a great job, did a good job getting the puck down 200 feet and you see the result from it.”

— The emergence of fourth-line rookie winger Justin Brazeau has been one of the better stories for the Bruins this season. But Boston lost Brazeau due to an upper-body injury in the first period. Brazeau skated to the bench after a collision with Luke Schenn and did not return.

“We’ll have more in the coming days (about) length and stuff,” Montgomery said. “We don’t really have much besides that right now.”

— Mason Lohrei made his way into the lineup for the first time since March 23 when he registered an assist in a loss to the Philadelphia Flyers. Lohrei was on Boston’s second defensive pairing with Carlo and recorded 15:43 of ice time. He also committed a hooking penalty with 8:27 left in the third period.

— James van Riemsdyk has only suited up for two games the past two weeks mainly due to illness. The veteran forward was on the ice against the Predators, though, tallying one shot in 12:50 of playing time.

— Brad Marchand tied Zdeno Chara for the seventh-most games played in franchise history with 1,023.

— The Bruins close out their six-game road trip Thursday against the Carolina Hurricanes. Puck drop from PNC Arena is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET and you can watch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.