OTTAWA — Ottawa head coach Travis Green didn’t like much about the Senators' 3-2 overtime loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday, with the exception of goaltender Linus Ullmark’s performance.
Ullmark, acquired by the Senators over the summer, made his debut in an Ottawa uniform and didn’t disappoint. He allowed just one goal on 29 shots over a period and a half.
“He was great to say the least,” said Green. “Very good.”
Ottawa led 2-1 before Isak Rosen tied the game with 40.7 seconds remaining. Noah Ostlund scored the winner in overtime.
The 31-year-old Ullmark faced 24 shots in the first period alone and joked that it was good he got a full game out of 30 minutes of action.
“I’m glad I got (the shots),” he said. “You don’t really know how it’s going to go the first game. You have your new routines and everything like that, so I felt like a little bit scrambly there in the beginning.
"But after that, once I kind of settled in, it felt a lot better.”
With the Senators poised to make cuts after the game, players may have made the coaching staff’s decisions a little easier.
“I don’t think there a lot of guys that helped themselves tonight,” said Green.
Josh Dunne had the other goal for Buffalo (4-0-0) and Felix Sandstrom made 14 saves.
Adam Gaudette and Noah Gregor scored for Ottawa (3-0-1). Dustin Tokarski made 10 saves over a period and a half.
Ottawa opened the scoring at 7:55 after Carter Yakemchuk made a great defensive play to create a turnover. Gregor was then sent down the wing and he beat Sandstrom on the glove side.
Yakemchuk, picked seventh overall at this year’s NHL Draft, has had a strong showing in camp so far.
“I thought I got off to a little bit of a slow start, but I thought as the game went on I got better with every shift,” said the 18-year-old. “I was pretty happy with my game overall.”
Buffalo tied the game at the 10-minute mark. Vsevolod Komarov made a cross-crease pass to Dunne who stepped into the faceoff circle and beat Ullmark.
Buffalo took control in the first period with a 24-5 edge in shots and if not for Ullmark, would have likely had a couple more goals.
“We wanted to get off to a really good start,” said Leone. “I liked the fact we were first on pucks and I liked our compete level.”
Yakemchuk set up Gaudette's power-play goal midway through the third period.
Buffalo's lineup had a combined total of just over 100 NHL games of experience as most of its regular roster is in Munich, Germany for the upcoming Global Series Challenge.
“It’s obviously a really young lineup and a lot of guys played their first NHL game a couple nights ago,” said Mike Leone, who coaches Buffalo’s AHL affiliate in Rochester. “I thought we played a really good brand of hockey.
"We were fast, we defended really well, we had the puck a lot and I just thought it was a great team effort.”
NOTES: The Sabres were given a special exemption from the league before the game. Teams usually have to dress a minimum of eight NHL veterans, but Buffalo didn’t have any in its lineup.
UP NEXT: The Senators will take on the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday in Sudbury, Ont., while the Sabres will head to Columbus on Saturday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 26, 2024.
Lisa Wallace, The Canadian Press
