Sabres: No one deserved that win more than Linus Ullmark

The Buffalo Sabres got their second win of the season yesterday and their first of the season against the Capitals. This was the fourth time the Sabres played Washington this season, and they still have four more games against them this year.

After dropping Friday night’s game in a shootout, yesterday’s game also needed a shootout to decide a winner. Sabres fans know that shootouts have not been kind to Buffalo over the past couple of seasons, but the Sabres captured a rare shootout victory on Sunday. And no one on the team deserved this win more than goaltender Linus Ullmark.

Ullmark has gotten off to a little bit of a rough start to the season. He was yet to win a game going into yesterday, with a loss in regulation to the Capitals on January 15th and a shootout loss to Washington on Friday night. But yesterday he stopped 28 of 31 shots and stopped all three shots he faced in the shootout to secure the win for Buffalo.

Earlier in the week, Ullmark left the team before their first game against Philadelphia. At the time all that we knew is that he left due to personal reasons. But later in the week, we learned that his father had passed away. He rejoined the team and got the start in both games vs the Capitals.

It looked like Ullmark and Carter Hutton were going to be splitting time fairly evenly, but after Hutton got injured in Philadelphia, it will be Ullmark in net until Hutton is healthy. So he was thrown into a pretty high-pressure spot these last two games after having a lot going on in his life over the past week.

He gave the Sabres two very gutsy performances and was rewarded with a win yesterday afternoon. He had an amazing overtime performance, shutting down multiple scoring chances for the Capitals. You could tell how much this win meant to him by seeing his reaction after he made the final save to clinch the win for the Sabres.

The Sabres have a slightly easier schedule this week, with two games against the Rangers and two more against the Devils. Depending on if Hutton is healthy enough to play, there is a good chance we see Ullmark for most of, if not all, these upcoming games, as the other option for the Sabres would be Jonas Johansson.

Maybe this shootout win against the Capitals can help build some momentum for Buffalo and they could string some wins together. And we wish nothing but the best to Linus and his family and we are happy to see him back on the ice.