OTTAWA — If your goalie is second best, you are second best.
When Linus Ullmark was playing with the Boston Bruins last season, facing the Toronto Maple Leafs in the playoffs, it was hard not to be boastful. In fact, in the off-season, he had some harsh words for one of the Leafs’ goalies: Ilya Samsonov.
But after being traded from the Bruins to the Ottawa Senators over the summer, and then signed, Ullmark has not played to form. And Samsonov, who is now with the Vegas Golden Knights, clearly did not forget about Ullmark’s barbs.
On Thursday night the two goaltenders faced each other for the first time since last year’s playoffs. Samsonov won this goalie duel, as the Golden Knights beat Ottawa 3-2 in a game the Senators very much could have won, outshooting Vegas 40-32.
It was part of a trend this season that Ullmark, the former Vezina winner, was brought in to stop: Ottawa has struggled for years to capitalize on its talent up front because of its inconsistent goaltending which has ended in many losing streaks. With Thursday’s loss, the Senators hit their first four-game losing streak of this season, in part because of their goaltending.
In spurts, Ullmark was good Thursday night but not better than the Knight in shining armour at the other end of the ice.
Goalie beef isn’t commonplace in the NHL — Ron Hextall retired a long time ago — but there was bad blood between Ullmark and Samsonov brewing after the two faced each other in the playoffs last spring.
In the summer, Ullmark didn’t mince words about Samsonov’s performance for Toronto.
“I was surprised that they kept Samsonov in for that many games against us in the playoffs,” Ullmark said. “I felt that every time we played the Leafs and (Joseph Woll) was in net, it felt like it was more of a challenge even though I’m not a player. Just watching him, it looked like he was in so much more control of the situation that was thrown at him.”
It led to Samsonov eying their rematch on the calendar.
In the first period on Thursday, Samsonov made a huge save on Brady Tkachuk moments into the game. Minutes later, Ullmark seemed to return the favour, stopping Ivan Barbashev with a miraculous cross-crease diving chest save. But that left his net wide open for Jack Eichel to finish a tap-in to open the scoring.
Still, Ullmark kept his team in the game, making a big glove save on a mini-breakaway from Thomas Hertl in the first period and then producing a great acrobatic save on Nicolas Roy in the second.
But as a goalie, you are remembered more for the saves you don’t make than the saves you do—especially if the game doesn’t go your way. Ullmark allowed a sad squeaker when Brett Howden’s snapshot beat him through his armpit to extend Vegas’s lead to 2-0. It was a goal that simply can’t go in and it affected his team.
“Can feel it when it got to 2-0 tonight that there’s a little bit of, ‘oh boy’,” said Senators coach Travis Green post-game. “We’re in trouble now, and we’ve got to learn to play from behind and not be a team that either panics or starts to take high risk.”
In Ullmark’s last three starts, he’s allowed 13 goals on 82 shots for an .840 save percentage. He was better on Thursday, stopping 29 of 32 shots while saving 2.53 goals above expected against Vegas according to Moneypuck.
“I think it’s a little bit of a step in the right direction,” said Ullmark afterward about his own play as well as his team’s.
Nevertheless, in the third period when his team was mounting a comeback, Ullmark could not stop Pavel Dorofeyev, who scored the winning goal on a breakaway. With three minutes left, Samsonov made an enormous and timely glove save on David Perron to help seal a victory for Vegas.
“Can’t think about the past but be pissed off about tonight,” said Ullmark.
After the game, both Green and Drake Batherson spoke about how good Samsonov was.
“I mean, give their goalie credit,” said Batherson.” He made some big saves at the right time, and easily could have been tied up there late, going to overtime.”
The Senators were hoping Ullmark would be the factor that would flip the team into the win column; so far, he’s been the boundary to their success.
JBD plays ahead of Hamonic:
Senators fans have been using #FreeJBD on social media for the past several weeks because Jacob Bernard-Docker had been sitting out in favour of Travis Hamonic.
Bernard-Docker recently spoke to Sportsnet.ca about being scratched from the team.
“I think my job is just to stay ready for whenever my chance is. Ultimately, it’s not my decision,” the defenceman said. He then laughed when he was told that his absence in the lineup was the talk of Sens nation.
On Thursday the fans got what they wanted, and it was Hamonic’s turn to watch from the press box.
For context, Hamonic had been on the worst two Senators defensive pairings analytically through 18 games. Hamonic had played with either Jake Sanderson or Tyler Kleven. In those minutes Hamonic and his partners had been outshot a combined 109 to 125 at five-on-five.
In comparison, Bernard-Docker and Kleven outshot opponents 50 to 33 when they were on the ice at five-on-five this season, according to Natural StatTrick.
Ironically, Hamonic had his best game analytically in the Senators’ previous outing against the Edmonton Oilers.
But JBD’s return to the lineup did not go as well as the fans had hoped. In the first period, both Kleven and Bernard-Docker took the same man in front, leaving Jack Eichel all alone to score. Then, with Vegas ahead by a goal, Kleven jumped up, leaving Bernard-Docker alone and allowing Dorofeyev to rush down the ice to score. The pair was outshot eight to 12 during the game.
We have a small sample size, but Hamonic has treaded water while Bernard-Docker has been better. Despite this one bad game. The team needs to win fast, and to do so the better player needs to take precedence. Play Bernard-Docker.
Bright spot: Adam Gaudette
Name a player who has more goals than Nathan Mackinnon this year. Easy: Adam Gaudette.
The fourth-liner’s eight goals this season do not come from nowhere. He’s a goal scorer with a wicked shot who led the AHL with 44 goals last season. Gaudette sniped another beautiful goal on the power play against Vegas.
Still, he might not have made the team without his kinship with Travis Green, who coached Gaudette in Vancouver where he had his NHL career-high 12 goals in the 2019-20 season. He’s almost matched that already this season.
“It’s nice for a player to have that familiarity with the coach, and get into the lineup because you know what he’s expecting of you,” Gaudette said. “He helps and coaches you instead of yelling at you and sticking you in the press box. So, he’s an easy guy to play for.”
The sticking point for Gaudette to make the team wasn’t his offensive production but his defensive play as he had a -37 plus-minus for his NHL career prior to coming to Ottawa. However, he felt last season in the AHL really helped him develop his all-around game.
“(Besides) scoring a lot of goals down there, I was a plus player,” said Gaudette. “I played in all situations, penalty kill, power play, so I feel like I really rounded out my whole game down there, and I was ready to get back up to the NHL.
“I think, the defence creates offence, and if you’re doing the right things, you’re going to get your chances.”
This season, Gaudette has been on the ice for seven goals for and only six against at five-on-five. He’s been a winning player. His line with Zack MacEwen and Nick Cousins has been excellent, outshooting opponents 106 to 83 at five-on-five according to MoneyPuck.
“I think we’ve been playing a lot in the offensive zone, which has been great,” said Gaudette. “We don’t spend too much time in our defensive zone. We’ve been winning our matchups.”
Gaudette has won with the fourth line and also on the power play, where he picked up his third goal on the man advantage this season.
“I think just the confidence thing to not panic when you get the puck and knowing whether to shoot it or make a move or having poise around the net. That’s something that took me a little bit to get comfortable with. And now that I have that aspect of my game down. I feel comfortable having the puck around the high-danger areas.”
Late in the third period against Vegas, Gaudette earned his coach’s trust when he was thrown onto a line with Tkachuk and Pinto to try to tie the game.
“I’ve done that when we’ve been down, putting Gaudette up on other lines,” said Green post-game.
For a team that has averaged 2.1 goals a game in the month of November, a red-hot fourth-line player is a bright spot amidst the misery of a fourth straight loss.
