When Linus Ullmark led the team out on the ice, all seemed right with the Boston Bruins for their Game 1 series opener with the Florida Panthers.
Well, almost alright. Patrice Bergeron, the B’s captain and emotional leader, was still missing. But Ullmark, their main man in goal, their Vezina Trophy candidate, was able to assume his spot between the pipes.
And there was certainly plenty of mystery and suspense surrounding whether he’d be in the net or not.
Last time Ullmark played goal, he was forced to leave the second-to-last regular season game in the third period because of an undisclosed injury. Given how he badly struggled to get up after moving from one side of the post to the other before leaving, it seemed pretty grim. He did not travel with the team to the regular-season finale.
So, yes, there was more than a little concern about the Bruins’ netminder. Add on the fact backup Jeremy Swayman missed practice Sunday with the illness that had affected many on the team, and no one really knew what to expect.
Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery also would not reveal the name of his starter Monday morning, suggesting Ullmark might be sick too, so there was more than a little angst.
Ullmark, however, wound up being the man.
How did he look? How well did he move?
Let’s just say he looked like the goalie who was dominant all year (40-6 record, 1.89 goals against average) and played a significant role in the teams’ record-setting 65-win regular season.
Basically, he was back to saving the team’s bacon when needed en route to a 3-1 victory in the opener. He backboned the win, making 31 saves, while assuring the B’s didn’t start off on the wrong foot without Bergeron, who very well could be playing in his last postseason before hanging it up.
“He’s been doing that all year long,” defenseman Charlie McAvoy said of Ullmark. “We have nothing but faith and trust in him, and everybody on our team to show up and do the job.”
It marked Ullmark’s first playoff win in Black ‘n Gold. In the opening series against Carolina last year, Ullmark lost the first two games before giving way to Swayman.
Asked how it felt to get that first playoff win under his belt, Ullmark said: “It’s nice. Now we gotta get 15 more.”
While Panthers goalie Alex Lyon made a few more saves of the spectacular variety, Ullmark also made his share of beauties, especially in the first two periods. The Panthers outshot the B’s 15-8 in the first period.
The Panthers were especially effective with their relentless forecheck, keeping the Bruins pinned in their end at times, but Ullmark stood tall.
“We had a little rough stretch there,” said Ullmark. “They’re a team that likes to feed off transitions and counters and stuff like that. You just gotta keep it simple.”
The lone goal the Panthers scored came on an uncharacteristic giveaway by Dmitri Orlov in his own end in the second period, allowing Matthew Tkachuk to walk in, make a quick move and bury the puck past Ullmark on a bang-bang play.
But the B’s still managed to escape win a win, with Game 2 on Wednesday.
Ullmark said it wasn’t decided until the morning that he would play.
“I felt good. I felt terrific this morning,” he said. “Once we (decided that), it was show time.”
It wasn’t the prettiest game by Bruins standards. The Panthers seemed to have more jump early on, but eventually, the B’s settled in and did what was needed to come away with the win.
“We’ve always said this is what we were meant to do. This is the process we’re talking about. We’ve been building for this for a long time,” said Ullmark. “To really be prepared for when the puck is dropped every period, every game. All of those 82 games before hand was just us trying to ramp it up. This is the moment where you’ve got to build your game.
“You’re not going win the Stanley Cup with just one win. You’ve got to keep doing it over and over and over again.”
Ullmark was certainly up to the task in the opener. So as he said, it’s one down, 15 more wins to go.