Six starts into the 2026-27 NHL campaign, Ottawa Senators goalie Linus Ullmark is continuing where he left off last season in record-breaking fashion. Victorious in Thursday’s 2-1 shootout win over the New York Islanders, Ullmark tied a pair of Senators long-standing franchise highs.
Senators content is powered by Betalytics and Rude Hockey. Betalytics provides the best sports data available. Sign up for a no-strings 5-day trial. Then use Promo Code: HHS to receive a 50% discount off your first month. Plans start at $9.99. Rude Hockey provides cutting-edge apparel for the hardcore fan.
Albeit crossing over from the 2025-26 season, the 33-year-old has recorded 10 consecutive regular-season wins, tying “The Hamburglar” Andrew Hammond’s run in 2015. Ullmark’s six straight victories to open a season equal Ray Emery’s start in 2005-06.
The Senators goaltender has also been clutch in shootouts this season, winning two. Allowing only one goal in six attempts against. In fact, Ullmark’s .796 Save Percentage in the game-deciding skills competition ranks tops all-time among NHL netminders participating in 25 or more career shootouts.
As strong as he is in shootouts, Ullmark isn’t a fan. And when it’s teammates’ turn to shoot, Ullmark keeps his head face down to the ice, waiting for the crowd noise, planning his next move.
“I’m not a huge fan of the shootouts. I’m always an advocate of doing something else. But yeah, I mean, sometimes you’re lucky with your reads. Sometimes your reads are great. Sometimes guys are putting on a show and dangling in the stands, and you’re looking down and thinking, what happened? And you never know,” said the 10-year NHL veteran after Thursday’s win.
“That’s the beauty of it, but also something that I wish we didn’t do. But like with that. comes as well a lot of big happy emotion when you are successful because you’re the only one out there, basically. And when you let in a goal, you’re basically like failing over and over again, which is you’re just hoping the guys can bail you out.”
In his six starts to date, Ullmark has been dialed in. In his third season with Ottawa, Ullmark boasts a 6-0-0 record, a minuscule 1.20 Goals Against Average, and a .949 Save Percentage. His other previous best opening to season was 2022-23 for the Boston Bruins, where he went 8-0-0 to begin his eventual Vezina Trophy-winning year. Ullmark finished with a 40-6-1 record.
Entering Senators training camp a month ago, the native of Kramfors, Sweden, was ready for the season ahead.
Of his first few days, “It been fun. Everybody has come out hot, blazing, excited about what’s to come, trying to make a name for themselves,” noted Ullmark with a smile.
September 2025 it was a slightly different story for the Senators goalie. After his first three days of camp, Ullmark told the media he was playing “terrible.”
While stating that practicing at the Sensplex and not the Senators Canadian Tire Centre home may not have been ideal, Ullmark admitted he may need to change his offseason regimen.
Ullmark wasn’t “vintage Ullmark” through the opening three months of the season. There were several solid outings, but overall his game was inconsistent.
Then Senators fans, players, and media alike were caught off guard in late December when the club announced Linus Ullmark was granted a leave of absence.
Ullmark himself told TSN’s Claire Hanna in a well-publicized interview that he was experiencing anxiety and suffered a panic attack in his final game on December 27 in Toronto.
The Senators backstop made his return January 31 at home in a 4-1 win over New Jersey and has been a beacon of success ever since. Ullmark closed out the 2025-26 campaign 14-4-3, posting a 2.41 GAA and a .904 Sv Pct..
During his time away from the team, one of Ullmark’s confidants, goalie consultant and mentor Maciej Szwoch, was there every step of the way. The club smartly hired Szwoch as a goalie development coach during the offseason.
Ullmark attributes a lot of his early success this season to several factors.
“It’s hard to say. It’s a combination, a lot of good things. We have my favorite Italian man in the trainer’s office (head athletic therapist Domenic Nicoletta) that takes care of me every day. So that’s one of the things that helps me out. Guys blocking shots, my relationship with Sammy (Ersson), conversations, and the work that me, “Petey” (goalie Justin Peters) “Mash” (Maciej Szwoch), are putting down this hole, come bearing fruit so far. I mean, it’s about 60 games. So you never know what’s going to happen down the line, and so far so good.”
An ever-perfectionist, Ullmark still feels there’s more he can do to improve his game, but is ultimately “feeling pretty good.”
“(There’s) always something to clean up. It’s been pretty good so far. Ups and downs. It’s always, you know, a battle every night. Always a grind. Good players, good teams, can’t really relax any at any time at any point during the game. So that’s why I say it’s up and down. And whenever there’s a break in play, you take your own breather. And once the play is in their zone or in our zone, you gotta lock it.”
Home › Forums › Senators Ullmark Is Locked In