Talking Points: Ullmark Puts On A Show in Boston Bruins Win

Here are the Talking Points from the Boston Bruins 3-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on Saturday night.

GOLD STAR: When and if Linus Ullmark wins the Vezina Trophy at the end of the season, this Saturday night in Vancouver will be on the greatest hits tape for sure. Certainly, there was the way he played in the final 40 minutes of the game after Boston built up a 2-0 lead and coasted at times against a Canucks team playing out the string. He stopped 26-of-27 shots and made some clutch saves in the third period once it became a one-goal game where any miscues would have tied the game. He stopped Elias Petterson cold on a slick give-and-go play that gave him a free look in front of the net and he did the same a few moments later against Anthony Beauvillier when he broke out for a clean look as well. But let’s be honest, everybody is going to be talking about the goal that Ullmark scored late in the third period on the empty net to ice the game and rightfully so.

Linus Ullmark is a sniper pic.twitter.com/u9mJfu7JTw

— Joe Haggerty (@HackswithHaggs) February 26, 2023

BLACK EYE: It’s got to be Wes McCauley for throwing this vicious, unwarranted hit on Brad Marchand. Let’s see if he gets the same $5,000 fine that Marchand received for his “slewfoot” against the Seattle Kraken.

Brad Marchand rocked by Wes McCauley pic.twitter.com/DI8ACEPW3A

— Joe Haggerty (@HackswithHaggs) February 26, 2023

To his credit, it looked like McCauley went over and said something to Marchand immediately afterward to make amends about the obviously accidental collision.

TURNING POINT: The final three minutes of the first period is when the Boston Bruins officially took control of the game after dominating the opening 20 minutes. It was a Guillaume Brisebois elbow on Nick Foligno that created a power play chance for the Bruins, and their second PP unit did the damage with Hampus Lindholm bombing one from the point to get Boston on the board. Then a couple of minutes later Brad Marchand scored off a defensive zone faceoff where he cut into the middle of the ice and scored a beauty of a goal against Arturs Silovs.

HONORABLE MENTION: Hampus Lindholm continues to be a major performer for the Black and Gold. He scored the game’s first goal and finished with a plus-1 while logging 20:01 of ice time, five shot attempts and a takeaway while playing strong at both ends of the ice. The power play strike gave Lindholm the most goals (7) since the 2017-18 season and continues to push his career-best point total with the Boston Bruins after doing the best he could with what he had in Anaheim during most of his NHL career with the Ducks.

BY THE NUMBERS: 21 – the number for new Boston Bruins forward Garnet Hathaway, with Dmitry Orlov taking No. 81 for the Black and Gold.

QUOTE TO NOTE: “I just had to take my chance there. I don’t know what to say, but I am ecstatic inside. It’s one of the dreams I always had and everything came together [on this play].” –Boston Bruins netminder Linus Ullmark on scoring the first goaltender goal in B’s franchise history.