How Linus Ullmark can make Ottawa Senators history against winless Flyers

Linus Ullmark and the Ottawa Senators couldn’t have scripted a more perfect start to this season.

The Senators goaltender is at the top of his game after extending his record to 6-0-0 with 20 stops in the club’s 2-1 shootout victory over the New York Islanders on Thursday night.

As the Senators, who are first in the Atlantic Division, prepare to face the winless Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena, Ullmark will try to become the first goalie in franchise history to win his first seven starts of a season.

Ullmark tied the mark set by former Senators goaltender Ray Emery, who went 6-0-0 to start the 2005-06 campaign. Dominik Hasek was 5-0-0 in the same season as Emery.

The Flyers are off to their worst start in franchise history at 0-6-3 through nine games.

The Senators have a 6-2-0 record in their first eight games of the season, thanks to Shane Pinto’s shootout winner on Semyon Varlamov, which brought the Canadian Tire Centre crowd to its feet.

Yes, a lot of the record has to do with timely goal scoring, but Ullmark has been the club’s last line of defence and he’s playing some of the best hockey we’ve witnessed since he arrived in 2024.

Not only did Ullmark wake up on Friday with an unbeaten record, he has posted a 1.20 goals-against average and a .948 save percentage. Those are pretty strong numbers.

“There have been ups and downs,” Ullmark said when asked to assess the start of his season on Thursday night. “It’s a battle every night. There are good teams and good players. You can’t really relax at any time during the game.”

He took a 35-day leave of absence for mental health reasons last December and returned in late January. Since then, Ullmark has looked focused on the ice, and his play has been strong.

Dating back to last season, Ullmark has a 10-0-0 record, which is also a franchise best. Asked about the mark, Ullmark had a funny response.

“That’s a weird one,” he said. “To be honest, I don’t care about that at all.”

The page was turned on last year when Ullmark showed up for training camp. He has the right people in place to support him on his journey, including goalie coach Justin Peters and close friend/mentor Maciej Szwoch, who is on staff as the coordinator of scouting.

Ullmark also mentioned his strong relationship with backup Samuel Ersson, who was acquired from the Flyers, and the work he does with athletic therapist Dom Nicoletta.

Those who have watched his career closely say he’s in the form that won him the Vezina Trophy with the Boston Bruins. That season, Ullmark posted a 40-6-1 record with a 1.89 GAA and a .938 save percentage.

“Ully is doing his job and that gives us confidence to win games,” defenceman Jordan Spence said before the club left for Philly on Friday. “We’ve just got to stay consistent and keep on working.

“It’s pretty awesome, to be honest with you. He’s a big piece of our team. For him to be performing like that, and to have a 6-0-0 start, it’s awesome. He’s won a Vezina Trophy and we knew he’s capable of doing those things. When he’s confident, we’re confident with him as well.

“It’s really good to see him performing well, and we want to do the best we can to play well in front of him.”

Ullmark has a .796 career save percentage in shootouts, which ranks seventh all-time among goaltenders who have faced at least 40 shootout attempts.

Not bad for a guy who doesn’t like seeing games decided that way.

“You’ve heard me say it before, I’m not a huge fan of the shootout,” Ullmark said. “I’m always an advocate of, ‘Like, do something else.'”

What makes him so great in the shootout?

“I don’t really know much about goaltending, to be honest,” winger Ridly Greig said. “But he stops the puck. That’s all I really care about.”

It’s early, with 76 games remaining, but the Senators talked a lot going into this season about getting off to a strong start. They’ve made the playoffs the last two years, but they’ve had to make heroic runs down the stretch to make that a reality because of poor starts.

There will be struggles along the way, but the points teams collect early can become awfully valuable down the road.

That’s why the Senators need to keep cashing in while Ullmark is playing this well.

On Saturday night in Philadelphia, he’ll have a chance to do something no Senators goaltender has done before.

Seven starts. Seven wins. And a message to start the season that the Senators are a force to be reckoned with in the East.

The Senators wanted a strong start and Ullmark is giving them exactly that.