Ullmark makes 30 saves in debut for Senators, who open with win against Panthers

OTTAWA -- Linus Ullmark made 30 saves in his debut with the Ottawa Senators, a 3-1 win against the Florida Panthers at Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday.

“He looked exactly like he has from Day 1. Confident, calm,” Ottawa coach Travis Green said of Ullmark. “When you get to these types of games when the other team’s pushing hard, there’s usually a couple of moments when your goalie’s going to have to make a save, and he came up in spades.”

Ullmark, who was acquired in a trade with the Boston Bruins on June 24 and signed a four-year, $33 million contract ($8.25 million average annual value) on Wednesday, made 16 saves in the third period. He has won eight straight games against Florida.

“There's a reason why they've been so successful, because they come in waves and they keep grinding away,” Ullmark said of the Panthers. “They don't get frustrated, even if they're down. So, it's a special win, definitely.”

Tim Stutzle scored twice, and Shane Pinto also had a goal for the Senators in their season opener, which was Green’s first game as their coach. Ottawa had 33 blocked shots to Florida’s nine.

“Everybody stood up for each other, everybody was blocking shots, everybody was playing good defensively, and obviously ‘Ully’ helped us a lot,” Stutzle said. “We were struggling at times in the D-zone, but we just kept them to the outside and I felt like we did a great job doing that and didn't really give them many grade-A chances.”

Gustav Forsling scored, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 28 saves for the Panthers (1-1-0).

“They came out fast,” Bobrovsky said. “They played a quick game, but I think in the second and third we played our game. We put together a solid game, so the result was not there, but I think the pieces are there, and it was a good, hardworking game. I thought the guys did a great job.”

Florida center Aleksander Barkov left the game with 1:10 remaining in the third period after sliding into the boards during a fight for the puck with Stutzle. Barkov was not putting weight on his right leg when he was helped off the ice and to the locker room.

“First, I want to say, I hope he's not hurt,” Stutzle said of Barkov. “That was just an unfortunate play, I guess. I just saw he lost a stick, so I saw an opportunity there, and the game was really tight and I felt like they were pushing.”

Panthers coach Paul Maurice had no update on Barkov’s status. He said the captain is “going to get looked at here tonight and probably tomorrow as well."

Florida forward Anton Lundell said of Barkov: “I just saw he went down and obviously we don’t want to see that, but I can’t say much right now. Hopefully he is OK and it wasn’t nothing bigger.”

Stutzle gave the Senators a 1-0 lead on the power play at 5:52 of the first period when he beat a screened Bobrovsky glove side with a wrist shot from the high slot.

“I really liked the start of our game,” Green said. “Obviously, like good teams, they started to push and gain some momentum. I thought we showed a lot of grit. We had to hang on a little bit, but in those moments I thought we defended from the inside out.”

Pinto made it 2-0 at 10:42. He elected to shoot on a 2-on-1 and scored with a wrist shot from high in the right face-off circle.

“We gave them five rush chances in the first and we just don’t do that,” Maurice said. “It wasn’t adjustments, there wasn’t a technical problem in our game. Our hands were our feet, our feet were our hands, and that doesn’t work very well.”

Forsling cut it to 2-1 at 15:48 of the second period when his slap shot from the point beat a heavily screened Ullmark.

Ullmark made three key saves in the third period to keep it a one-goal game. He made a right-pad stop on a one-timer in the slot from Mackie Samoskevich at 7:01, stuck out his left pad to stop a backhand from Matthew Tkachuk in tight at 10:16, then denied Samoskevich again on a wraparound at the left post at 12:44.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” Ullmark said during an on-ice, postgame interview as the crowd chanted his name. “It doesn’t matter which team we play out there. But you know what? Just to hear the crowd like this, I’ve got goosebumps.”

Stutzle scored his second of the game into an empty net at 18:50 for the 3-1 final.

“I think, top to bottom, everybody had an awesome game tonight," Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk said.

NOTES: The Panthers were 0-for-2 on the power play and are 0-for-8 to start the season. … Senators forward Nick Cousins had four hits in 12:09 of ice time in his Senators debut. Cousins, who signed a one-year, $800,000 contract with Ottawa on Aug. 29, won the Stanley Cup with Florida last season. … Green was hired as coach May 7, replacing Jacques Martin.