Don’t look now, but the Bruins are suddenly getting some very good goaltending.
While most of the talk around Boston’s net recently has been about Tuukka Rask practicing with the team earlier this week and his seemingly inevitable return, Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman have gone out and performed like the tandem the Bruins hoped they were going to be.
The latest impressive performance came from Ullmark Thursday night, as he turned in arguably his best game as a Bruin. With Boston playing on the second night of a back-to-back and facing a top-five offense, Ullmark stopped 41 of the 43 shots he faced to lead the Bruins to a 3-2 win over the Oilers in Edmonton.
“Linus played a strong game for us tonight. We needed that,” assistant coach Joe Sacco said after the game. “We knew that coming into the game, they were here, they were waiting for us. We played last night, so we knew our goaltender was going to have to be sharp, and he was. Good for him, because certainly we needed that from him at certain times tonight. … Overall, he played a fantastic game today.”
Ullmark was at his best in the third period when it mattered most. While he did give up the tying goal to Leon Draisaitl on the power play -- which, I mean, that’s the league’s best goal-scorer on the league’s best power play -- he stopped the other 15 shots he faced in the period, including three on another Oilers power play earlier in the period.
Ullmark’s best save of the night was also the most chaotic. After Connor Clifton misplayed a bouncing puck, Ullmark denied Warren Foegele’s initial chance and then went full pinwheeling double pad stack to turn aside Foegele’s follow-up bid.
“When it goes well, it’s great,” Ullmark said of the save. “Sometimes when you’re just lying there like a dead fish, then it’s not as great. It’s one of those saves that’s good to have in your arsenal, in your toolbox, but it’s not something that you always want to rely on.”
Ullmark hadn’t started in nearly two weeks prior to Thursday night, and he had recently dealt with a non-COVID illness that’s been running through the team. His last start -- a loss to the Red Wings in which he gave up two goals on 16 shots -- wasn’t perfect. But it’s worth remembering that his two starts before that were very good, as he stopped 65 of the 69 shots he faced in a pair of wins over the Flyers and Canucks.
Ullmark now has a .938 save percentage over his last four starts after sitting at .903 through his first six. His partner, Swayman, has gone from .908 in his first eight games to .942 in his last five.
Since Nov. 20, the Bruins’ .930 team save percentage ranks fourth in the NHL. They’ve climbed into the top 10 in team save percentage for the season after ranking in the bottom 10 through the first month. They’re now sixth in goals allowed per game.
Perhaps Ullmark and Swayman have been motivated by all the Rask return talk, or perhaps this was just an inevitable turnaround because they’re two good goalies and this is what good goalies do. Either way, it’s exactly what the Bruins need as they still try to find their way offensively.
The Rask talk isn’t going away. His return may still be inevitable. But while Rask was looking like a necessity for this team just a few weeks ago, Ullmark and Swayman have been playing well enough that Rask is starting to look like a luxury again.
Ullmark’s improvement is particularly crucial. He’s the one with the big contract and the one who was therefore drawing the most criticism. He’s also the one who can’t be moved anywhere because of said contract, which raised the awkward possibility of the Bruins sending Swayman down to Providence when Rask returns while an underperforming (at the time) Ullmark got to stay.
Things will still probably be awkward if and when Rask returns, but at least now both Ullmark and Swayman are playing like they belong, and neither is underperforming. That’s a good thing, no matter what this situation ends up looking like in a month or two.
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