How the Bruins’ Linus Ullmark found his comfort zone, on and off the ice

LAS VEGAS — Four years ago, Linus Ullmark switched from CCM to Bauer equipment. He quickly learned Bauer’s glove would not do.

“Bauer and CCM have a very different approach to how they make their gloves,” said Ullmark, pausing and sighing as he recalled the process. “Basically, I made a new glove together with them. That’s what we had to do. Because it was such an abomination compared to what they had in stock and what they made. So we swapped out most of the things and created a new thing.”

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Through a series of meetings, phone calls and on-ice tests, Ullmark and Bauer gradually hit on something he liked. Just about every component of Ullmark’s glove is fully customized to his preferences.

“Strapping options,” Ullmark said as he went down his checklist. “Angle of how it closes. The T-pocket. Everything. Everything is different. The inside. The padding of the actual glove was a lot of tinkering, swap out things, change places.”

You can see, then, that Ullmark likes things with his equipment just right.

But at the start of 2021-22, his first season as a Bruin, one other thing was just wrong.

It needed to be fixed.

An up-and-down start

With each appearance, Ullmark is proving he is one of the NHL’s premier puckstoppers this season. He has lost just once. He has a best-in-show .941 all-situations save percentage. According to MoneyPuck, Ullmark has saved 0.804 goals above expectation per 60 minutes. This is No. 2 in the NHL to the Coyotes’ Karel Vejmelka (.835) among goalies with 15 or more appearances.

“I just feel good about myself,” said Ullmark. “I feel calmer. But it also comes with age, as well. When you don’t have to worry about things off the ice, things on the ice take care of themselves.”

In his latest win, Sunday’s 3-1 victory over the Golden Knights, Ullmark took a would-be goal off the scoreboard in the second period. Ben Hutton stepped out of the penalty box just in time to receive a long-distance Mark Stone pass. As Hutton approached, Ullmark patiently waited at the top of the crease. When Hutton let his shot go, the goalie flashed his glove to swat aside the defenseman’s breakaway bid.

“He seems to be getting more and more confident, if that’s possible,” coach Jim Montgomery said. “He really seems in control of everything that’s going on, whether that’s playing the puck out of the crease, he’s in the crease. In traffic, he’s seeing pucks. He’s just playing great hockey right now.”

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The 6-foot-5, 212-pound Ullmark is excelling at letting the play come to him. The 29-year-old’s confidence is allowing him to chill out in the crease and trust his stuff when pucks start flying. If there is a word to describe Ullmark, it is calm. 

That was not the case at the start of 2021-22.

The ex-Sabre had to adjust to entirely new circumstances at the rink. Practices were more committed than what he was used to in Buffalo. He had to fight through more traffic in the Bruins’ zone system, which emphasized net-front coverage. He wasn’t familiar with many of his new teammates. He had to form a working relationship with goalie coach Bob Essensa. He was looking over his shoulder at Tuukka Rask, who was rehabbing from hip surgery.

As if that wasn’t difficult enough, life away from the rink was not satisfactory.

Ullmark and his wife, Moa, believed they had found a nice home in Newton for themselves, son Harry and daughter Lily in the waning days of the 2021 summer. After moving in, it didn’t take long for them to learn that it didn’t suit their needs.

“It wasn’t a good fit for us, I would say,” Ullmark said. “That really took a toll on both me and my wife. Because it was always something. Always something that was bugging me.”

Ullmark, for example, could have been having a great day at the rink. But when he returned home, Moa would inform him of what had broken while he was at work. 

They planned to ride it out in Newton, then reassess at the end of the season. Their unhappiness demanded they accelerate that schedule.

“It just takes a lot of energy,” Ullmark said. “It just drains energy. You don’t think about it all the time. But it just drains energy. After a while, months of doing it, we just said, ‘F— it, let’s find a new place.’ ”

Settling in

Last year, Ullmark’s first-half bugaboos included a habit of allowing untimely goals and inconsistency in controlling his rebounds. He worked to fix those shortcomings.

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Meanwhile, he and Moa were busy finding their family a new home. They liked a place in Brookline. Partway through the season, the Ullmarks moved.

“My wife did a hell of a job getting everything packed and moved,” said Ullmark. “I think she moved most of the things when I was gone on a road trip. She took that upon herself. We had movers, obviously, to help out with that. But unpacking, packing? She’s awesome doing that. It’s like a science. She has it down to a T.”

It was probably not a coincidence that Ullmark settled in during the second half. Over his final 15 appearances of 2021-22, Ullmark recorded a .933 save percentage. It was the highest mark of any goalie between Feb. 21 and the conclusion of the regular season. The Bruins gave him the net to start Round 1 against Carolina.

Since then, Ullmark has become even stingier. This is the first season since he switched from CCM to Bauer that he has not adjusted any of his gear. He is more comfortable with Essensa and partner Jeremy Swayman. He has a better understanding of how his teammates will defend.

His game is not bulletproof. On Sunday, Stone scored the Golden Knights’ first goal with a slick in-tight move. Ullmark acknowledged making the wrong save selection initially, which gave Stone room to operate wide.

“If I remember correctly, I kind of screwed up in my movement there,” Ullmark said. “I got too caught up in the moment and kind of went forward instead of to the side. He has a long reach. When he got by me, there’s nothing there to save it. It was a nice move. Sometimes guys make nice moves and nice plays. They scored. You’ve got to tip your hat and focus on the next one.”

But part of what’s made Ullmark trickier to solve this season is his unpredictability. He has always sprinkled different techniques into his game. For example, a dive to stop a puck, a vertical-horizontal seal post when shooters expect reverse vertical-horizontal and a willingness to use his head to steer a shot wide.

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“Just have a deep enough toolbox so you can do things different ways,” Ullmark said. “You’ve still got to have a system in place to your strengths and not flop around all the time. But if the situation demands a two-pad stack or a head save, I’m all for it. If that’s what makes a save, great. Because there are no bad saves. Every save is a good save.”

So far, Ullmark has made 508 of them this year. The Bruins expect many more.

(Photo: Ron Chenoy / USA Today)