Linus Ullmark had a spectacular regular season, and many see him as the favorite to win the Vezina this year.
The Bruins played great defensive hockey during their record-breaking regular season, but that was nowhere to be found during the playoffs. It ended with a heartbreaking Game 7 loss in overtime to the Panthers.
Linus Ullmark did not look like the fantastic goalie we saw during the regular season.
He didn’t seem a 100 percent, and during the six games that he played off the series—before being on the bench for Game 7—he tallied a 3-3 record, a .896 save percentage. His 3.33 GAA was below the number he posted in the regular season.
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And now, an explanation for Ullmark’s sudden drop in form is being made public by ESPN’s Kevin Weekes. The insider reported Tuesday, a day after the Bruins’ shocking loss in Game 7, that Ullmark played through a tough injury.
”Like all teams; players grit it out to play through major injuries in the playoffs. My sources tell me soon to be Vezina G Ullmark was playing through a debilitating & painful injury that limited his mobility and technique,” he said on Twitter.
If the reports about Ullmark are true, it makes the Bruins’ decision not to play Jeremy Swayman earlier in the series even stranger. Swayman is also coming off a great season, and many Bruins fans wanted to see him in the net, to offload some work from Ullmark earlier than in Game 7.
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