Linus Ullmark Is Giving the Senators Something as Key as

There's a little more to Linus Ullmark's latest win than the fact that he's now won his first four starts of the season. On Saturday, the Ottawa Senators found themselves down 2-0 to Nashville after the first period. Ullmark had given up goals to Ross Colton and Jonathan Marchessault, and the game wasn't exactly getting off to the start Ottawa wanted.

But here's the interesting part. Ullmark didn't let that first period turn into a bad night. He settled down, stopped everything Nashville threw at him over the final two periods and overtime, and gave his teammates a chance to climb back in. Ottawa eventually won 3-2 in a shootout.

Good goalie play can cover a multitude of mistakes.

That's what good goaltending can do. It doesn't always mean stopping every shot or putting up a sparkling save percentage. Sometimes it means giving your team time to find its game after things have gone sideways. And right now, Ullmark is doing plenty of that.

He's won all four starts, allowing two or fewer goals in each. He's stopped 81 of 86 shots, for a .941 save percentage. Those are impressive early numbers, and they're a lot more meaningful when you consider that he's helping Ottawa win games rather than simply keeping the score respectable.

Ullmark is a goalie the Senators can trust.

There's a difference between having a good goalie and having a goalie your team trusts. When a team falls behind, players can start pressing. Defencemen may get nervous about mistakes, forwards try to force plays, and suddenly everybody tries to do a little too much.

A goalie who settles down after a difficult start can help calm things down. The players know they don't have to score three goals in the next five minutes to get back into the game. They can take a breath, stick with the plan, and work their way back.

Of course, four starts don't tell us everything about Ullmark or Ottawa's season. There will be tougher nights, and nobody should expect a .941 save percentage to last forever. But the early returns are encouraging.

The Senators’ goalies give them a chance to win every game.

For the Senators, the bigger story might be that they have a goaltender giving them a chance even when the game doesn't start well. That's valuable over an 82-game season, particularly for a team trying to build consistency.

Saturday's comeback wasn't just about finding a way to win. It also reminded everyone that a bad period doesn't have to become a bad night. And if Ullmark keeps giving Ottawa that kind of stability, his value could go well beyond the numbers on the scoresheet.