Did Paul Maurice Take a Shot at Linus Ullmark in Postgame Interview?

Linus Ullmark has been under fire in recent days for sitting out a pivotal game in the Ottawa Senators playoff push in Tampa Bay on Saturday afternoon, and the way things went in his first start since on Tuesday certainly didn’t help matters.

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The veteran netminder had a disastrous night in Florida, allowing five goals on 16 shots in just the first period before being pulled in what ended up as a 6-3 loss to the Panthers. Not only did things go poorly on the ice, but it appears as if head coach Paul Maurice might have taken a shot at Ullmark in his postgame interview as well.

When talking about his team’s performance, Maurice called it a good mental health win, something we know Ullmark has struggled with this year, and perhaps played a part in resting over the weekend.

Maurice said:

“It’s hard to do to stay mentally in it and not have your game disappear… That’s a good win for our team. You have nine players out of your lineup and play that way. I don’t have that expectation every night that we’ll be able to do that, but you need to be able to do that every once in a while to feel good. It was a good mental health win,”

The 32-year-old Ullmark saw his record drop to 23-11-8 with the loss, now sporting a 2.85 goals-against average, and a .886 save percentage to go with two shutouts across 43 starts this season.

Mental health is not something to joke about, though it’s hard not to notice Maurice’s facial expressions and comments and wonder if they were a subtle jab at Ullmark.

A difficult situation and year as a whole for Ullmark in Ottawa has become that much messier, yet he’ll somehow need to find a way to put it all aside with eight games left in the regular season and the Senators still just two points out of a playoff spot.

If Ottawa does fall short, however, it’s quite possible that Ullmark’s future with the team could come into question this summer.

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