On Saturday, Linus Ullmark made history by becoming the first Bruins goalie to ever score a goal. That was fun. What he did Tuesday night was even more impressive.
Ullmark made history again, this time by breaking the regular-season franchise record with 54 saves to lead the Bruins to a 4-3 overtime win in Calgary in a game they really had no business winning.
The Bruins looked exhausted, because they were. They were playing the second night of a back-to-back at the end of a four-game Western road trip. The Flames looked well-rested and desperate, because they were. They had two days off before Tuesday, and they are fighting for their playoff lives.
The Flames dominated in terms of possession, shots and energy, barely allowing the Bruins to leave their own zone much of the night. The B’s surrendered a season-high 57 shots on goal, 16 more than their previous season-high. They took a season-low 20, even with nearly five full minutes of overtime added on.
The minus-37 shot differential was the biggest in a single game in Bruins franchise history. According to Boston Sports Info, this was only the third time in NHL history that a team won a game while giving up 57 or more shots and taking 20 or fewer.
And the Bruins have Ullmark to thank for that win. He made 19 saves in each of the first two periods, allowing Boston to somehow take a 2-1 lead into the third despite being outshot 39-9 at that point.
The dam finally broke in the third, with the Flames scoring two goals 1:17 apart to take a 3-2 lead. Both came on defensive breakdowns that led to point-blank shots Ullmark could do little about.
It seemed like the Bruins were going to have nothing left in the tank to come back, but they did, tying the game again on a late power-play goal from Pavel Zacha.
Ullmark shined again in overtime with six more saves, all on quality scoring chances. That set the stage for the late winner, with Charlie McAvoy burying a feed from Patrice Bergeron with just 4.3 seconds left in OT.
When it was all said and done, Ullmark had made a season-high 18 high-danger saves, according to Natural Stat Trick. That’s six more than his previous season-high. The same site credited him with 2.57 goals saved above expected, his second-best mark of the season (+3.11 at New Jersey on Dec. 28). The 54 saves were also a career-high for Ullmark, and this is a man who played on some truly dreadful Sabres teams.
While it was fun to joke about Ullmark’s goal on Saturday adding to his Vezina Trophy case, Tuesday night was the kind of performance that actually helps further separate him from the field. Ullmark is now 31-4-1 and continues to lead the NHL in wins by three. His .938 save percentage is eight points clear of anyone else, and his 1.88 goals-against average is 0.18 goals better than second place and 0.42 better than third.
The arguments that Ullmark benefits too much from the team in front of him or doesn’t have a heavy enough workload to win the Vezina are losing steam. The advanced stats favor him, too, with Ullmark leading the league in goals saved above expected at plus-33.3, according to MoneyPuck. If it weren’t for Connor McDavid being on pace for 150 points, Ullmark would be getting serious MVP consideration as well. Perhaps he deserves to anyways.
Ullmark wasn’t the only reason the Bruins won Tuesday night. Dmitry Orlov scored his first two goals as a Bruin and added a nice assist on Zacha’s tying goal, giving him five points in his first three games with his new team as he continues to assimilate very nicely. On any other night, he would have been the star of the game (actually, Calgary did name him the No. 1 star in the arena, but that’s only because whoever was choosing it must’ve somehow missed what Ullmark was doing all night).
Jake DeBrusk took a big hit to make a pass to Orlov on the tying goal. Zacha made a bunch of good plays at both ends of the ice in addition to his goal. McAvoy, Bergeron and Brad Marchand all battled through otherwise tough games to step up when it mattered most and combine on the winning goal.
But make no mistake: Ullmark’s history-making performance was the biggest reason the Bruins left Calgary with two points, a perfect 4-0-0 road trip, and a now-eight-game winning streak.
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