Linus Ullmark relishes his return to TD Garden, especially after beating Bruins
“It's something that I'll look back at and bring with me forever."
The primary message in Linus Ullmark’s postgame presser within the halls of TD Garden was gratitude.
The 31-year-old netminder expressed thanks on Saturday to a raucous Bruins crowd who showered him with cheers and a standing ovation.
Ullmark also offered a stick tap to his longtime goalie partner and friend Jeremy Swayman, who he shared a hug with during pregame warmups.
“It was a lot of fun,” Ullmark said in what stood as his first game back on Causeway Street since an offseason trade to the Sens. “It’s something that I’ll look back at and bring with me forever, so to speak, and just had to enjoy the moment.”
But above all else, Ullmark was grateful to leave the Garden ice with a victory — embracing his new teammates after helping Ottawa deal Boston yet another frustrating defeat on Saturday night.
“It’s a statement game, so to speak,” Ullmark said after Ottawa’s 3-2 win in overtime. “So we just have to learn that this is a sort of game that we want to play every single night. It’s not just sometimes here and there.”
Ullmark’s early returns as the Sens’ new franchise goalie have been mixed. Entering Saturday’s matchup against his former team, Ullmark posted losses in four of his last five starts — sporting an .873 save percentage over that stretch.
But Saturday stood as a step in the right direction, even if the former Vezina Trophy winner wasn’t necessarily tested for significant stretches of play.
Ullmark finished Saturday’s win with just 14 saves off of 16 total shots, with Boston not landing a single shot on goal against him over the entire third period of play.
The Bruins’ last shot before overtime came at 13:13 in the second period, with former Bruins netminder Andrew Raycroft posting on X that Ullmark went an hour and seven minutes between facing a shot in the win.
But Ullmark didn’t lose his focus despite that extended lull, turning aside Boston’s lone Grade-A shot in overtime by knocking aside a one-time attempt from Elias Lindholm off a 2-on-1 bid.
Ullmark earned an honorary assist on Brady Tkachuk’s game-winning tally just seconds later — as Lindholm’s blast ricocheted off his pads and bounced out to Ottawa’s captain, who ended things in short order.
“There was certainly a lot,” Ullmark said of his emotions during Saturday’s game. “Not gonna lie, it was a lot, especially during warmups and the response going out there and hearing the crowd again.
“Also when just getting the win. … and the response tonight, it’s something that you dream of, especially when you’re coming in here as an opponent, you really want to bring your A-game and you want to do that.”
Ullmark made the most of his three seasons in Boston, helping form one of the best goalie tandems in recent memory alongside Swayman. During Ullmark and Swayman’s three seasons together, Boston posted a record of 163-58-25 — with Ullmark taking home the Vezina as the league’s best goalie during the Bruins’ record-setting season in 2022-23.
“It meant a lot,” Ullmark said of his video tribute. “It’s not something that I’m striving for, obviously, but it’s something that you can look back and say, yeah, you’ve made enough of an impact in this community and this organization as well. … And like I said, I’m never going to take it for granted.”
Despite the friendships forged and the memories made during his three seasons in Boston, Ullmark was candid when asked about the type of legacy he left with the Bruins.
“I wouldn’t say I accomplished anything. We didn’t win, and that’s something that’s always going to bother me, because I really felt that we had opportunities to do it,” Ullmark said. “And so I’m going to bring with me those feelings, thoughts, emotions into this locker room and strive to become better and learn from my mistakes, but also the impressions and all those sort of things that I’ve been through to kind of handle it in a better way if we ever come to the same situation.”
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