Ullmark made 37 saves for the Senators who handed Nashville its seventh straight loss.
Ullmark made 37 saves for the Senators who handed Nashville its seventh straight loss.
For the first time since mid-November, the Ottawa Senators have crawled back to .500. The Senators won their second game in a row at Canadian Tire Centre, defeating the slumping Nashville Predators 3-1 on Saturday night. Tim Stutzle helped set up two goals while Linus Ullmark made 37 saves.
It didn't rise to the level of Grand Theft Ottawa, that insane heist Ullmark pulled off in San Jose during their recent road trip, but he was still the difference in this one, especially in the third period when Nashville outshot the Senators, 18-8.
After signing a big extension in October, Ullmark scuffled for a while, but now shows all the signs of a goalie rounding into form. Jacob Bernard-Docker, Claude Giroux, and Nick Cousins staked Ullmark to a 3-0 lead but the shutout was lost with just 1:57 to play on a goal by Fedor Svechkov.
Seconds later, Svechkov nearly scored again, but because he was off balance in a goal mouth scramble, he couldn't sweep the puck into a wide open net. That should have made things a little hairy for Ullmark and the Senators, but instead they now seem to be getting some of those timely bounces that so often went against them in the first 20 games.
Giroux's goal, the winner, was a fine example. He just tried to make a pass to the far post and it caromed in on Steven Stamkos' skate.
Unfortunately for Sens winger Drake Batherson, he didn't enjoy any bounces in this one. He had some chances, but his eight-game point streak fell by the wayside.
The Senators have now pulled nine of a possible 12 points out of their last six games, and Ullmark has been a big part of that.
Ullmark says he was appreciative of his teammates' shot-block efforts during the game.
"It takes a lot of balls to do it," Ullmark told the media after the game. "I really appreciate that whenever they do it, because sometimes there was a lot of bodies in front, a lot of big bodies."
No rest now for those bodies. The Sens are back at it again at 5 pm tomorrow, hosting the New York Islanders in another big game (spoiler: they're all big now). The Isles are one point ahead of them in the race for a wild card spot in the East.