'Let's flow': Breaking down Ullmark's first career shutout

LAS VEGAS - For Buffalo Sabres goaltending coach Andrew Allen, the moment that set the course for Linus Ullmark's first career shutout came with just over five minutes remaining in the first period and Vinnie Hinostroza streaking down the right wing side.
Ullmark admitted following his 36-save shutout of the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday that he felt off to begin the game. Allen could see it too; Ullmark tripped while playing a puck behind the net and had a few shots bounce off him early.
Then Hinostroza came bursting down the ice.

"Hinostroza came down and he kind of went to the middle, and then he came back, and he went to go up and Linus didn't bite at all. He just waited for him, waited for him, waited for him," Allen recalled following practice at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday.
"He made it look easy, but it was basically a cut-in breakaway. From that moment I was like, 'Alright, he's going.' From that point forward he was making big, big saves for us and keeping us ahead."
Seventeen days separated Ullmark's final start of the preseason and his first of the regular season, the result of a strong four-game stretch from his goalie partner, Carter Hutton. Sabres coach Phil Housley praised the work Ullmark put in in the meantime, staying late and taking extra shots after practice.
The two areas Ullmark focused on to stay sharp: his feet and his eyes.
"The biggest thing we work on is footwork, so you feel like you're confident on your edges," Allen said. "That's the biggest thing for a goaltender. Your base is your feet. If you feel like you're confident and your sharp on your edges, then your natural instincts take over.
"We work a lot on footwork, and then we work a lot on tracking pucks, really watching pucks into their gloves, watching pucks to control rebounds. It keeps your eyes engaged, keeps your feet engaged. That's the two biggest areas we've worked on."

Ullmark's patience was a sign he was on his game, but so was his demeanor. The goalie is known off the ice for his lighthearted personality, and Allen says he's at his best when he takes that on the ice with him. Sure, he's a competitor. But when Ullmark's body language is laid back, he plays free.
"When he gets tight, things are bouncing off him more," Allen said. "It's not that natural flow. Sometimes for me, it's kind of watching him, going over and saying, 'Hey, take a breath, and let's flow. We use the word 'flow' a lot. He's looked really good and competes really well in practice, but he's still that Linus we love.
"That's Linus. He's got to be a little more laidback and loosey-goosey from that standpoint. It makes him a better goalie."
Ullmark's demeanor was evident to Hutton when he skated to the bench during stoppages.
"I've played with a lot of different goalies," Hutton said. "Some guys are talkative; some guys don't talk. Other guys need different things. He's pretty casual. Honestly, he's pretty mature in there. It was good, we had some good convos, joked around a little bit. I think we kept it pretty light."
After the game, Ullmark deflected credit to his teammates for keeping shots to the outside and clearing lanes to help him see pucks. All of that was true on Saturday, but it was also true that Ullmark was a vital last line of defense when the Coyotes made their pushes.
Arizona made a particularly strong push late in the second period, when Ullmark was forced to stop a pair of one-timers in the span of a minute. That included a save on Richard Panik in which Ullmark had to track Oliver-Ekman Larsson as he cut to the middle and still be ready for a back-door attempt.

"What I saw was patience on his feet again," Allen said. "[Ekman-Larsson] moves to the middle, which could be a very good scoring opportunity, and he throw it back to Panik and he pushes into that like he didn't miss a beat. It's all about patience on his edge.
"He read it very, very well. If you're off at all there, that can be an open-net one-timer. It was a great sequence."
For Hutton, plays like that were the difference in the game.
"I thought he was the best player in the rink," Hutton said. "I think he stole that game for us."

Monday's practice

Zach Bogosian took another step toward his return to the lineup, practicing on a defense pair with Nathan Beaulieu. Bogosian has been out since Sept. 25 with a lower-body injury.
Housley did not rule the defenseman out for Buffalo's game in Las Vegas on Tuesday.
"He's getting close," Housley said. "We'll see what the trainers say after today's practice. I haven't spoken to them, but he looked really good again. We'll know more tomorrow."
Here's how the full lineup appeared at practice:
43 Conor Sheary - 9 Jack Eichel - 23 Sam Reinhart
53 Jeff Skinner - 37 Casey Mittelstadt - 21 Kyle Okposo
17 Vladimir Sobotka - 10 Patrik Berglund - 72 Tage Thompson
28 Zemgus Girgensons - 71 Evan Rodrigues - 29 Jason Pominville
81 Remi Elie - 22 Johan Larsson
6 Marco Scandella - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen
19 Jake McCabe - 26 Rasmus Dahlin
82 Nathan Beaulieu - 4 Zach Bogosian
5 Matt Tennyson - 8 Casey Nelson
40 Carter Hutton
35 Linus Ullmark
The Sabres will continue their five-game road trip when they look to sweep their season series with the Golden Knights, coming off a 4-2 win at KeyBank Center last Monday. Vegas (2-4-0) is coming off a 1-0 win over Philadelphia on Saturday.
"We understand, they had a big win against Philly," Housley said. "They're going to be ready to go tomorrow. They fprobably never envisioned themselves being in this position. I'm sure they had some really good, solid practices leading up to tomorrow.
"… We can control what we're going to do tomorrow at the start of the game. We know this team likes to come out strong and it's going to be a tough game. But I like the way our guys are playing. When we're playing the right way, we get some offensive-zone time, we're finding ways to score goals. We have to continue to do that."