Injured Ullmark takes strides
ST. LOUIS — “Oh, shoot.” That was the family-friendly version of Linus Ullmark’s reaction when the Bruins goalie went down with a lower-body injury during overtime of Tuesday night’s loss to the Coyotes in Tempe, Ariz.
Ullmark was back at the morning skate Saturday, an excellent sign considering the reigning Vezina Trophy winner needed a lot of assistance from teammates and the medical staff to get to the dressing room after suffering the injury.
“I recognized the pain from some stuff I’ve done in the past,” Ullmark said prior to Boston’s 4-3 overtime win over the Blues. “So, I knew it was pretty severe at the time, but I didn’t know how severe it was.”
Jeremy Swayman had to go in cold against Arizona and gave up the winning goal on the first shot he faced. Ullmark said that didn’t help his mood.
“You feel guilty, your conscience is not in the right place because you go into [the dressing room] and as soon as you come in you see the clock stop and you hear the cheer from outside and you feel bad just because you put your partner in that position and your team in that position,” he said. “So, it’s never a situation where you’re satisfied or happy with it.
“Obviously, I wanted to end the game and win the game and all that sort of stuff, but you can’t beat yourself up too much, as well. Things are going to happen, and you’ve got to keep your head up.”
Though Ullmark didn’t reveal his exact ailment, he is feeling good about his prognosis.
“Everything looked good on the images, which is nice,” he said.
“Everyone having an imagery, or an MRI done [does not want to] see that something is torn or a severe injury. So, I was very happy with that so we can build off of it and know what we’ve got to do going forward. And I’ve said it many times before, the athletic trainers and the [physical therapists] that we have and the 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.”
Ullmark took it easy during the morning session, doing some skating with some lateral movement in the crease under the watchful eye of goalie coach Bob Essensa. He didn’t face any live action.
“It’s great [to be out there]. It doesn’t matter if you’re standing on the side or if you’re in the net or anything like that. It’s worse when you’re sitting on the bench watching the practice,” he said. “But once you actually get your gear on and you’re out there, you feel like you’re part of something and you’re not sitting on the side.
So, it’s easier for your mental health to do that. And it feels better for yourself to say, ‘OK, I can build off this. I’m getting closer. I’m part of the group.’ Stuff like that.
“It’s important because whenever you go through these rough times or you’re getting injured, your mental health really takes a toll. So, you’ve got to keep an eye on that and be cautious of it. So, I’m grateful that I had the opportunity to go out there.”
Swayman an All-Star
There was more good news out of the goalie room Saturday as Swayman was voted to the All-Star Game via the fan vote.
It’s the first All-Star nod for Swayman, who played in his 23rd game Saturday night. Swayman beat the Blues on 20 saves to improve his record to 12-3-7. He has a pair of shutouts.
In a video released by the Bruins, Essensa broke the news to Swayman in front of the entire team.
David Pastrnak, who was previously named in the first round of All-Star participants, Saturday was tapped as one of a dozen players who will participate in the revamped skills competition. The wing and other All-Stars will compete for points in eight events, with the winner taking home $1 million.
Frederic at home
St. Louis boy Trent Frederic had dinner with his family Friday night and was excited to be back at Enterprise Center, where the forward “grew up watching NHL hockey.” He had a cheering section, but he wasn’t sure how big. “I’ve kind of stopped counting and I think everyone’s been kind and nice to me and getting their own tickets for the most part, and I kind of let my family deal with all that stuff,” he said . . . It was also a homecoming for Jim Montgomery, who coached the Blues, and defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk, who played here for seven seasons (59 goals, 258 points in 459 games) . . . Rookie
Matt Poitras (upper body) missed his second straight game and fellow forward Pavel Zacha (illness) was a late scratch . . . Dorchester boy and Blues forward Kevin Hayes on
Bill Belichick: “He’s one of the guys I thought was amazing in Boston sports. We’ve been lucky enough to see a lot of championships in that city.” Hayes said he’s met new Patriots coach Jerod Mayo a few times through mutual connections. “He seems like a great guy,” Hayes said . . . Rafter check: The Blues have eight retired numbers, including one belonging to a former Bruins coach: Al MacInnis (2), Bob Gassoff (3), Bob Plager (5), Barclay Plager (8), Brian Sutter (11), Brett Hull (16), Bernie Federko (24), and Chris
Pronger (44).