Ullmark's Stellar Showing Secures SO Win for B's

BOSTON - Jim Montgomery was asking, politely, for one more stop.
"Please make another save," he said. "That's the only thing going through my mind."
Boston's bench boss had plenty of time to hope for the best as the Ducks pounced on a Bruins' turnover deep in Anaheim own end that left all three Black & Gold skaters below the circles. Linus Ullmark was alone on an island as a trio of Ducks stormed all the way back up the ice with Ryan Strome leading what was nearly a 3-on-0 and the game on his stick.

"At first, I thought it was gonna be a 3-on-0," said Ullmark. "With the collision that we had [between Matt Grzlecyk and Patrice Bergeron that knocked them out of the play], how it looked at first - I think it was Strome that just took off and took it for himself on a breakaway."
Despite what appeared to be the direst of circumstances, Ullmark was resolute, calmy turning aside Strome's wrister with his stick with just over a minute to go in overtime.
"Not only did he make the save," said Montgomery, who got his wish. "But he cleared the rebound to the corner."

That he did. And for the night, Ullmark made 30 saves in regulation and overtime and another four during a perfect shootout showing to pace the Bruins to a 2-1 victory over the Ducks at TD Garden on Thursday night.
"Terrific, he gave us an opportunity to get two points," said Montgomery, whose club improved to 4-1-0 on the season. "He's done it every night he's been in the net, and he's had a great start to the year."
Ullmark is now 3-0-0 with a 2.06 goals against average and .938 save percentage to start the 2022-23 campaign, his second with the Black & Gold. The 29-year-old acknowledged that compared to this time last fall, he feels more relaxed off the ice, which has led to added confidence on it.
"I just feel a little bit more comfortable off the ice," said Ullmark. "With the boys, there's not a whole lot of new things, not a lot of new personnel. I don't have to get to know everybody, I don't have to get to know the system, I don't have to get to know the city…everything. Just life, basically. I'm in a better spot."
The Sweden native stopped all four shots he saw in the shootout, capping the Bruins' victory with a sprawling glove stop of Max Comtois' backhand attempt.
"I'd rather us just win after 60. That's how I see it," Ullmark said bluntly when asked for his opinion on the shootout. "I don't plan on letting in goals just because it's a shootout. It was fun tonight."

Taylor's Tallies

Taylor Hall admitted that his last two games weren't his best. The winger landed just two shots on goal across the back-to-back against Florida and Ottawa and played only 11:55 against the Senators on Tuesday night.
As such, the former Hart Trophy winner - just like his team - was ready for a bounce back.
"It wasn't the preseason that I wanted, getting injured, just not having the game reps that you get in exhibition games," said Hall. "Exhibition games are almost more about getting your legs under you and feeling like you can play with pace, especially a player like me.
"I hadn't played well the last couple of games, and it was important for me personally to - whether I got on the board or not - to find my game and the way that I have to play all season long, and tonight was a decent start forward."
Indeed, it was.
Hall opened the scoring 2:31 into the second period when he blocked down Anaheim goalie John Gibson's clearing attempt, spun, and whacked home his second goal of the season.
"He probably should have covered that puck, and that doesn't happen," said Hall. "I just stuck around the net and waited for a loose puck, and I knew he just poke checked it out, so he probably couldn't see the ice as well as he wanted to. I got a lot of wood on that shot."
The 30-year-old later notched the deciding tally in the shootout when in the fourth round he streaked in on Gibson straight down the slot and buried a wrister five-hole.
"I just kind of tried to get some speed," said Hall. "I feel more comfortable with the puck when I have some pace behind me, and as I got across the slot, I took a look up and tried to get him moving a little bit, and when I did, I saw his five hole open up and it went in."
Montgomery called Hall the Bruins' best skater on Thursday night.
"I thought he was hard, I thought he protected pucks, and I bet you he had the puck on his stick for about 45 seconds tonight," said Montgomery. "When a gifted offensive player like Taylor Hall has the puck on his stick a lot, he feels better about himself, and then you saw the rest of his game. He made some good defensive plays, he had that hard hit [Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler in the third]. He was really involved in the game."

Grzelcyk A Go

After missing the season's first four games as he continued to rehab from offseason shoulder surgery, Grzelcyk made his season debut and did not disappoint. The blue liner looked strong and confident, while finding himself quickly alongside Hampus Lindholm on the Bruins' top pair after impressing Montgomery in the early going.
"Really good. He was so good, I think we moved him up there10 minutes into the game," said Montgomery, who had started Grzelcyk on the second pairing with Jakub Zboril. "He's a good hockey player, it's good to have him back."
Grzlecyk finished the night with two shots on goal in 20:02 of ice time, while picking up an assist on Hall's second-period marker.
"I felt good. It was just fun to be back out there," said Grzelcyk. "You get a little anxious before the game, not really sure how it's going to play out, but I just kept reminding myself that I'm in a fortunate position, lucky to be back.
"The guys have been playing great, and I just wanted to come in and make it as seamless as I could. It wasn't our best effort tonight but found a way to win. And Linus played great. We relied on him and Hallsy, as well."
The Charlestown native was expected to be sidelined into early November after undergoing a right shoulder open stabilization procedure on June 3 that came with an original recovery timeline of five months. But the blue liner started skating with the team during training camp and made continuous progress throughout the preseason leading to an earlier return.
"You're just playing hockey," said Grzelcyk. "I've come back from injuries in the past, and you're overthinking things a little bit, and I just kind of wanted to play a little bit free tonight and trust that I'm still going to play smart defensively and not cheat in the game, for sure.
"But not putting too much pressure on myself to come back and have the best game ever. Of course, you want to play really well with the team. I just didn't want to do too much almost and hurt the team."
Grzelcyk credited his rehab skates with fellow sidelined Bruins Brad Marchand and Charlie McAvoy for helping him stay in game shape despite not playing an NHL game since mid-May.
"When you're skating by yourself, it's a lot harder. You're not sure how to stack up in practice, you're kind of out there alone," he said. "I've been trying to push myself and skating with Marchy and Charlie a little bit, and they're obviously great players so just trying to keep up with them. I felt great. Felt great to be back out there."

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