Although it may have taken a bit longer than he'd have liked, Samuel Ersson is beginning to find his confidence between the pipes for the Ottawa Senators. Since the Senators’ starting goaltender Linus Ullmark left the game on October 21 with a lower-body injury, all eyes turned toward Ersson and backup goaltender Jonas Johansson.
Ullmark set the bar high, starting the season in Vezina-caliber form with seven wins, a league-leading 0.945 save percentage, and a 1.33 goals-against average in his first eight games. Fans were already skeptical about the Ersson signing, and his rocky start with the Senators didn’t help his case as a reliable backup option. In Ersson’s first three starts for his new team, he went winless, allowing 15 goals on 87 shots.
Mind you, we can’t place the blame solely on Ersson. As the backup, his role was originally to give Ullmark some relief. That said, his first three starts came in the second half of a back-to-back series, in front of a tired and partly banged-up defense core. His last two starts were not part of a back-to-back series and had a rather healthy blue line, and lo and behold, he turned it around.
Turning a new leaf
The turnaround began on October 31 when the Senators visited the San Jose Sharks. Ersson stopped 22 of 23 shots in a rather convincing 5-1 victory, the team’s first win in their five-game road trip. This earned him a 0.957 save percentage and his first win as an Ottawa Senator. Surely, he needed this performance.
He followed that up with another outstanding performance last night in Buffalo. Ersson stood strong in net and stopped 23 of 24 shots in Ottawa’s 2-1 win. He finished the game with a 0.958 save percentage and was named the first star.
In both games, Ersson did exactly what he was called upon to do: keep the team in the game and provide stability. Across the two starts, Ersson stopped 45 of 47 shots and finished with an impressive 0.958 save percentage.
Earlier this season, Ersson publicly acknowledged that his play wasn’t where he wanted it to be and that he needed to settle down and return to his game. Although it’s still a small sample size, it’s encouraging. Beyond the scoresheet, Ersson shows more confidence and stoicism in his cross-crease saves and rebound control.
With Ullmark’s return still uncertain but approaching, the Senators will still need to rely on Ersson to steal points when called upon. For the first time this season, he is showing Senators fans and the organization that he may be able to do just that.
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