When former Boston Bruins goalie Linus Ullmark took a leave of absence from the Ottawa Senators in late December, it left many people wondering what was going on. Everyone was hoping that things were going to be all right with the former Boston Bruins netminder.
Earlier last month, some pretty concerning rumors surfaced, but as soon as they did, they went away, and his teammates publicly had his back. After a month away from the team, the former Vezina Trophy-winner returned to the Senators lineup, and on Saturday night, he finally returned and played a game. It ended up being an emotional night.
Former Bruins goalie Linus Ullmark makes return for Senators
Ullmark returned for an Ottawa team that was in danger of falling out of the Eastern Conference playoff race. For one night, however, the Senators put everything behind and beat the struggling New Jersey Devils, 4-1, behind a strong performance from Ullmark. He turned back 26 of the 27 Devils' shots, which earned him the No. 1 star on the night. When he came back on the ice, he was emotional. However, when all was said and done, he was just glad to pick up a win for his teammates.
“It felt like I came out of retirement,” Ullmark said. “At the end, there, also during lineup, it was really hard holding it together, and I didn’t want to hold it together, also. It’s one of the things that I’ve been working on, just letting the feelings flow a little bit, it’s nothing, nothing bad about that in a way. So I was really happy with -- that we got a win today as well.”
This season has been up-and-down for Ullmark with the Senators, going 15-8-5 with a 2.89 goals against average and just a .884 save percentage. During his Vezina Trophy-winning 2022-23 season with the Bruins, he went 40-6-1 with a 1.89 GAA and a .938 SV%. Regardless of what is going on with Ullmark, it was good to see him back and enjoying what he loves to do, albeit in a different uniform.