Timely saves from Ullmark, Forsberg have been vital in Senators’ resurgence

Despite a 5-2 road loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday, the Ottawa Senators got some help on the out-of-town scoreboard as the Atlantic Division rival Montreal Canadiens defeated the Detroit Red Wings. With it, the Senators clinched their first postseason appearance since 2017.

A big reason for the Senators’ success in 2024-25 has been their goaltending, with the acquisition of Linus Ullmark in the offseason proving to be one of the most important trades in the summer. In 42 appearances, Ullmark has a 23-14-3 record with a .911 save percentage (SV%).

Backup Anton Forsberg is no slouch himself, posting a .902 SV% and recently recording his third shutout of the season. The pair has provided Ottawa with a stable crease that’s given them a shot to win on any given night.

On Wednesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and former NHL goaltender Carton Hutton are joined by former QMJHL coach Jon Goyens to break down how Ottawa’s goaltending has benefited them through the 2024-25 regular season.

Tyler Yaremchuk: It’s been a journey for the Senators’ goaltending, when you go back to the Joonas Korpisalo debacle, if you want to call it that, and everything that happened before all the different names they brought in, but this year they solved it with Linus Ullmark.

What’s been the key contribution from their goaltending?

Jon Goyens: Without getting technical, what I’m going to talk about is the calmness in the crease, especially of late. Yeah, there is some athletic saves, but they seem to be using their size to their advantage, they seem to be calm in their crease, but none of this matters if they don’t have the timely saves, which are exactly what I noticed over the last few games.

You can watch Jon’s full breakdown and the rest of the episode here…