When the Bruins took on the Ottawa Senators last night, they looked to right the ship after back-to-back losses that have led Bruins fans and head coach Bruce Cassidy to question the team of late. After last night’s game, the question mark still surrounds the team as they have now lost three straight games and four of their previous five, leading many to wonder if this team can even make a playoff run beyond the first round. A common theme of late besides losing has been the wake of injuries the Bruins have faced as they entered last night’s games with injuries to Hampus Lindholm, David Pastrnak, Brandon Carlo, and Matt Grzelcyk with everyone missing the game besides Grzelcyk, who made his return. The Bruins have now lost a player to injury in five of their last six games as the Bruin’s back end has been dropping like flies.
The latest player to exit a game due to injury was goaltender Linus Ullmark who was forced to leave last night’s game against the Senators following the first period. Before his exit Ullmark had stopped all eight shots, he faced allowing the Bruins to take a 2-0 lead heading into the second. Ullmark was hit in the mask early in the first by a slap shot from Senators defenseman Erik Brannstrom that seemed to shake up the Boston goaltender. After the play, Ullmark could be seen at the bench speaking to Bruins assistant trainer Joe Robinson for some time, which led to Jeremy Swayman subbing in to start the second period. Ullmark didn’t even return to the bench as the Bruins surrounded three goals in the second period with Swayman in the net as they lost 3-2.
Hopefully, for Ullmark, sitting out was just precautionary, and a concussion spotter suggested that the Bruins training staff sit the goalie for the remainder of the game. For the sake of the Bruins, let’s all hope that this will just be a contained incident, and Ullmark will be ready to roll when his next start comes up as Swayman has been in a funk and isn’t offering the Bruins much of a chance to win at the moment.
