Did the Senators waste two excellent Linus Ullmark performances in Carolina?

The Ottawa Senators saw their goaltender put on a top-notch display in their first two games of the Metropolitan Division Semifinal against the Carolina Hurricanes, but came away empty-handed.

In each game against the Hurricanes, Senators netminder Linus Ullmark did everything he could to give his team a chance to win. Carolina squeaked out a 2-0 win in Game 1, with the 32-year-old turning away 27 shots. Then, on Monday night, Ullmark was spectacular, making 46 saves in a game that almost went to triple overtime, including making a save on a penalty shot in the extra frame. Yet it wasn’t enough, as the Sens lost in double overtime. Nevertheless, Ottawa wouldn’t have had much of a chance to compete with the top seed in the Eastern Conference had it not been for the play of the big Swede.

On Tuesday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton explained how it was a missed opportunity for the Sens to waste Ullmark’s efforts in the first two games in Raleigh.

Tyler Yaremchuk: If you’re sitting here from a Sens perspective, two losses on the road is not the end of the world. You can kind of go glass-half-full or glass-half-empty…For much of the regular season, it was Linus Ullmark and the Senators’ goaltending is costing them games. Through two playoff games here, it’s been the opposite. It’s been that this team can’t score, but they are getting the goaltending. Ullmark has been exceptional.

So, are you pulling more positives from that and like, “Hey, goaltending was a concern for Ottawa coming into this series. They’re getting the goaltending. Now they just need the offense to figure it out on home ice?” Or are you more of the view that, “Damn, they squandered two really good opportunities with Ullmark playing well. They only needed 3 goals in either one of these games, and they would have stole one?”

Carter Hutton: I’m trying to see the glass-half-full. I’m thinking Linus Ullmark at home will be motivated, will be there. It’s not like Carolina has blown them out of the water, right? It’s a double overtime game. The other one was a 2-0 game.

You can watch the full segment and entire episode here…