Bruins’ Linus Ullmark seems to have dodged major injury

Linus Ullmark was asked on Saturday afternoon what his immediate reaction was as soon as he dropped to the ice on Tuesday night against the Arizona Coyotes.

“I can’t say that — kids are watching,” Ullmark told reporters in St. Louis on Saturday. “PG version? ‘Shoot’. I recognized the pain from some stuff that I’ve done in the past. So I knew it was pretty severe at the time, but I didn’t know how severe it was.”

Based on the optics, it looked like Ullmark was going to be off the ice for an extended stretch.

Nearly three minutes into overtime against Arizona, Ullmark dropped to the ice in severe pain while deflecting a sailing shot from Logan Cooley. After being attended to by trainers on the ice, Ullmark needed assistance getting off the frozen sheet before making his way to the locker room.

 

But just four days later, Ullmark was back on the ice with his teammates ahead of Saturday’s road game against the Blues.

Even though Ullmark is still tabbed as “day to day” and will not play on Saturday night, it seems like both the Bruins and their netminder have dodged a bullet as far as a long-term absence.

“Really good sign,” Jim Montgomery said of Ullmark’s appearance during Saturday’s morning skate. “He’s progressing faster than we anticipated. And he’s just starting, it’s his first day on the ice. So he’s starting his process towards being a player again.”

Ullmark acknowledged on Saturday that he’s still dealing with some pain in the wake of his injury. As such, he didn’t take part in drills during morning skate at Enterprise Center. Still, the reigning Vezina Trophy winner noted that all of his MRI results came back clean.

“Everything looked good on the images, which is nice,” Ullmark said. “You never want to have an image or MRI done and you see that something is torn or there’s a severe injury. So I was very happy with that. So we can build off of it.

“We know what we’ve got to do going forward. And said it many times before — the trainers and PTs that we have and doctors, I love every single one of them and I trust every single one of them. So I feel like we can really build off of this and come out stronger.”

The Bruins will turn to Jeremy Swayman — who was named an NHL All-Star for the first time in his career Saturday via a fan vote — for the time being as Ullmark works his way back. Swayman is 11-3-7 this season with a .920 save percentage, while AHL call-up Brandon Bussi will serve as his backup until Ullmark is cleared for game action.

“I’m getting closer. I’m part of the group, stuff like that,” Ullmark said of his status. “And it’s important because whenever you go through these rough times or you’re getting injured, mental health really takes a toll on [yourself]. So you gotta keep an eye on that and be cautious of it. So I’m grateful that I had the opportunity to go out there.”