When December arrived, the Ottawa Senators had a 10-12-1 record and needed to turn their season around. One player that has turnaround the Senators season is goaltender Linus Ullmark.
After earning the shootout loss against the Anaheim Ducks on Dec. 1, Ullmark's play has been simply brilliant. Ullmark won his next seven starts, with two of them resulting in a shutout. Ullmark would also have a 0.99 goals against average and .967 save percentage in the seven-game stretch.
With the Senators having a back-to-back before the Christmas break, Ullmark got the start last night against the Edmonton Oilers. However, Ullmark starting wouldn't go as the Senators had liked.
Ullmark suffers upper body injury to give Senators a "nightmare before Christmas"
Last night against the Oilers, the Senators lost 3-1 to have their six-game winning streak snapped, but the biggest story of the game was Ullmark suffering an upper body injury. Leevi Merilainen would replace Ullmark in goal at the start of the second period. Ullmark made six saves in the first period before not being able to return to the game.
Linus Ullmark has sustained an upper body injury during the game vs the Oilers.
— Claire Hanna (@clahanna) December 23, 2024
The goalie will not return to action this evening. #Sens
This is the second time this season that Ullmark has sustained an injury. In October, Ullmark suffered a strain injury and missed four games.
For Ullmark to have another injury at this point in time is brutal. Ullmark's hot stretch and Anton Forsberg also having an injury raises even more concern. Forsberg suffered an injury on Dec. 14 and didn't make the trip with the Senators for their first four games of their nine-game road trip.
Following the loss, head coach Travis Green provided the reason to Ullmark coming out of the game:
#Sens coach Travis Green said postgame Ullmarks back tightened up and “he felt it was best if he came out”
— TSN 1200 Ottawa (@TSN1200) December 23, 2024
If Ullmark is going to be out for some time along with Forsberg, it could put Merilainen in position to start. Merilainen earned his first NHL win on Saturday night against the Vancouver Canucks, but earned the loss against the Oilers with making 12 saves after he took over for Ullmark. Merilainen is now 1-2-1 in his career with the loss against the Oilers.
Mads Sogaard would also be another option if both Ullmark and Forsberg are not ready to return. Sogaard earned a win earlier this season against the Los Angeles Kings on Oct. 14, but allowed in four goals on 17 shots. In his career, Sogaard is 11-10-3 with a 3.53 goals against average and .881 save percentage
It's clear that Ullmark's injury is a concern and the Senators can't afford to lose him for some time. Luckily for the Senators, they don't play until Dec. 28 against the Winnipeg Jets. The Senators hope that having time off can help Ullmark heal quicker with five more games left on the road trip.