Ullmark, Pinto helping to turn the tide on Senators' season

OTTAWA — Ottawa Senators fans woke up Sunday to find their team in a playoff spot in the month of December for the first time since 2016.

Two weekend wins together made a statement.

On Friday night, Linus Ullmark pulled the helmet off Shane Pinto’s head in celebration after an impressive upset 3-0 road win in Carolina. Pinto had snapped his 19-game goalless streak, and Ullmark had a shutout against one of the best teams in the NHL.

The gesture personified the joy this team is feeling right now. Pinto and Ullmark represent the combination of secondary scoring and elite goaltending that could turn the tide on their season.

“For me personally, it was definitely a monkey off my back,” Pinto said after scoring twice against Carolina including an empty-netter.

On Saturday, Ullmark discovered at the last minute he’d be playing back-to-back nights because Anton Forsberg was injured in the warmup. Ullmark was stellar in a 3-2 Senators victory in overtime against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Put the two weekend games together with a mid-week win against the Ducks and it was the team’s first winning streak of the season.

In the case of Pinto, snapping a 19-game goalless drought was needed as much for the team as it was for him. Ottawa’s first two lines had been scoring, but their third and fourth lines, not so much. Pinto, a man known for an infectious kidlike smile, was beaming like a child opening presents on Christmas morning after scoring on Friday.

Despite his long stretch without a goal, Pinto’s game had shown strong improvement over the previous weeks. Some of that can be traced back to summer training in Nova Scotia with his childhood idol — the kid himself, Sidney Crosby. His hero, now a competitor, took notice.

“Just his speed, he's obviously got a great shot too,” Crosby told Sportsnet.ca ahead of Saturday’s matchup between Ottawa and Pittsburgh. “That's something that stood out, just skating with him there.”

Pinto described every summer skate with Crosby as being like a Game 7. Like Crosby, Pinto has become a 200-foot hockey player.

Meanwhile, Ullmark said Pinto’s defensive acumen never slipped during his cold spell.

“While it's not just scoring goals, he can be a positive influence on the team in different ways," Ullmark said. "He's been blocking shots, taking high-danger face-offs, back-checking.”

With Pinto on the ice, the Senators are allowing 2.25 expected goals against per 60 minutes at five-on-five, according to Evolving Hockey, which ranks him No. 135 out of 690 players league-wide. Meanwhile, at five-on-five the Senators had a positive shot share with Pinto on the ice at 51.27 per cent and the sixth-best expected goal share on the team at 52.93 per cent, according to Natural Stat Trick.

 It seemed inevitable he’d come back to his scoring ways, but it was a relief when it happened.

His hero never doubted him after playing with him up close this summer.

“I saw he got a couple (Friday) night. So, he's feeling good, I'm sure right now,” Crosby said. “But he was playing good hockey. I think it was just a matter of time after watching some of his games.”

On Saturday, Pinto locked down Crosby while matching him throughout the game. Crosby had just one chance, in the second period, but was stymied by Ullmark with a beautiful blocker. Crosby was held off the scoresheet in large part thanks to Pinto.

Senators coach Travis Green approves of Pinto's shutdown ability.

“Pinto’s line playing the way they have is nice that we can put them out in any situation and feel confident,” Green said.

 The Senators are 43-10-6 when Shane Pinto records a point in a game during his career. That’s a wild stat. It illustrates the difference secondary scoring can make when it comes. Pinto, Nick Cousins, Michael Amadio, Noah Gregor, Zack Ostapchuk, David Perron and Ridly Greig have combined for just 13 goals in 30 games but in their three-game winning streak, five of Ottawa’s 11 goals came from a bottom-six player or defenceman.

The hope for the Senators is that when it rains it pours Pinto beans. Signs point to a turnaround: If Pinto and the other secondary scorers can get going, so will the Senators.

Meanwhile, Pinto’s smiling partner, Ullmark, has turned a corner.  Earlier in the season it felt like the Senators and their fans had 33 million reasons to be concerned after Ullmark started the season 4-7-1 while playing shakily. (He signed a $33 million contract extension soon after joining the Senators.)

However, everything changed after working on his game with goalie coach Justin Peters ahead of a road trip to California. Since then, Ullmark has been kryptonite to the black rubber with a 6-0-1 record.

On the weekend, Ullmark started with a wonderful 32-save shutout against Carolina. He took it up another level against Pittsburgh including one save that is an early candidate for the save of the season. He jumped out to stop Michael Bunting on a breakaway, but the rebound found former Senator Erik Karlsson who had the entire goal cage to shoot at. Ullmark twisted and turned back to make a ridiculous one-handed stick save to stop a sure goal.

Sheesh.

“He saved my (butt),” said Thomas Chabot about the Ullmark save.

There’s a tale of two Ullmarks in the stats.

Statistics according to Natural Stat Trick.

Small sample size, for sure. Nonetheless, it has been a stretch of goaltending the Senators have not had in almost a decade — since the 2016-17 season to be exact, which was the last time the Senators were above .500 and in a playoff spot in the month of December.

What happened that season? An Eastern Conference Final playoff run, falling one goal short of making the Stanley Cup Final.

Even if Ullmark remains close to his current .910 save percentage for the season, it would give the Senators a real chance to make the playoffs. That would be the fourth-best team save percentage behind the Winnipeg Jets, Minnesota Wild and Toronto Maple Leafs, who are all entrenched in playoff spots.

“I mean, can't say enough (good things) about him,” Pinto said. "He's the reason we won that game (against Carolina). So, I mean, we're happy to have him."

Unfortunately, Forsberg looks likely to miss some games with an undisclosed injury, and the Senators will not want University of Ottawa emergency goaltender Zack Diertz to step in as backup again — or Brady Tkachuk.

Likely Leevi Merilainen or Mads Sogaard will be recalled from the Belleville Senators, both of whom have had pedestrian numbers in the American Hockey League this season. It’ll be Ullmark’s net for the foreseeable future, as it should be.

Maybe Ottawa doesn’t have to be a goalie graveyard after all.