The Ottawa Senators will only go as far as Linus Ullmark can take them

To be the best, you’ve got to beat the best, and the Senators have to have their top goalie at the top of his game to get back to the playoffs in the spring. For that to happen, there must be consistency in the crease.

The Senators woke up Tuesday after a thrilling 3-2 overtime decision against the Winnipeg Jets on Monday night at the Canadian Life Centre with the 30th-ranked save percentage in the National Hockey League at .873.

In the victory over the Jets, we saw the rollercoaster ride that the club’s goaltending has taken the Senators and their faithful on this season. It was the epitome of being consistently inconsistent.

Ullmark gave up a goal to Logan Stanley he absolutely would want back to allow Winnipeg to take a 2-1 lead in the second period and was then brilliant from that point on to help the club secure the two points.

He made 23 stops in the win and was solid down the stretch as the Senators pushed to tie it up. Jake Sanderson knotted it with only 1:54 left on the clock and then captain Brady Tkachuk scored the winner at 2:11 of OT.

Ullmark made his 24th start of the year on Monday. He is ranked 64th in the league with a .879 save percentage. His 3.00 goals-against average has him ranked 55th.

Despite attempts to get his game back on track, backup Leevi Merilainen has lost four straight. In eight starts, he has a .877 save percentage and a 3.32 GAA, which has him ranked 67th in the department.

Ullmark entered this season intending to secure a spot on Team Sweden for the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Milan/Cortina, Italy, in February. He was the third goalie at the 4 Nations Face-Off behind New Jersey’s Jacob Markstrom and Filip Gustavsson of the Minnesota Wild.

We’re not sure if Ullmark is on the radar screen after his struggles.

Combined with the worst-ranked penalty-killing unit in the league, you have to wonder how the Senators are even within sniffing distance of a playoff spot 32 games into the season, but here we are.

Coach Travis Green doesn’t believe the criticism that Ullmark has received is fair. He has stated publicly that he doesn’t care what anybody thinks about the way he’s playing and only has to answer to his teammates.

“There has been a lot of talk about his game this year,” Green said in Winnipeg. “You could really see that he was dialled in tonight. He came big for us in the third period and in overtime.”

Ullmark doesn’t have to be a superhero, he just has to do his job and stop the puck. It’s not complicated.

The key for Ullmark is to carry the way he finished the game into the club’s return home against Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night at the Canadian Tire Centre.

The Senators need to get the consistency from Ullmark that he had down the stretch last year. He has played more games than he is used to and that’s because the Senators know he’s the best bet in net.

The most games Ullmark has played in a season are 49 with the Bruins during the 2022-23 campaign. He suited up for 44 games with Ottawa last season, but missed six weeks with a back injury.

If this pace continues, Ullmark will play more than 60 games this season, so the Olympic break in February would be good for the 32-year-old.

Ullmark may never have the form that won him a Vezina Trophy with the Boston Bruins in 2023 again, but he can get close to it and that would be good enough.

Ottawa isn’t paying Ullmark to be in a platoon situation like he was with the Bruins and with his old partner, Jeremy Swayman.

Ullmark is in the first season of a four-year, $33-million U.S. extension he signed with the Senators that is paying him a whopping $8.25 million a year through 2028-29.

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That ties Ullmark for fifth place on the salary list for active goalies with Jake Oettinger of Dallas, Ilya Sorokin of the Islanders and Swayman.

In that group, Oettinger ranked second in wins, Swayman is fourth and Sorokin is eighth. Ullmark was at No. 17 before the win against the Jets, but made a meteoric rise to No. 10.

Victories are the sum of the way the team has played, but they also reflect on the goalie.

Ullmark strikes you as the kind of guy who never gets too high and never gets too low. He can stay on an even keel.

The hope is that he and his teammates can build off the victory over Winnipeg in this final homestand before the NHL’s mandated holiday break.

That would be a perfect way to head into Christmas.

bgarrioch@postmedia.com