The Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina 2026 are just around the corner and the world’s best ice hockey players are back on the Olympic stage for the first time since 2014. Every Wednesday until the start of the tournament in February, NHL.com/sv takes a look at the NHL and highlights the most interesting headlines from the league – from an Olympic perspective. This is Countdown Milan.
ULLMARK MAKES THE GOALKEEPING BATTLE INTERESTING
Ottawa Senators goaltender Linus Ullmark seems to have found his game. In the Count’s time.
With the squads for the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics expected to be nailed down at the turn of the year and unveiled shortly after, Ullmark was in need of a real rocket finish to boost his Tre Kronor shares.
Luckily, that is exactly what the 32-year-old has been delivering lately.
Ullmark went 3-0-0 with an average of 1.32 goals allowed per game, a 94.3 save percentage and kept his first shutout of the season last week – and was named the NHL’s second star of the week.
The goaltender has gone 8-4-0 over his last twelve games and has won four of his last five starts.
Perhaps it is Ullmark’s new goalkeeper mask that is behind the turnaround?
Since Ullmark received his new, Dave Gunnarson-painted helmet on December 11, the Swede has won four out of five games. The mask is painted on the theme of Old Norse mythology and represents the serpent Jörmungandr.
– It (mythology) is quite interesting when you delve deeper, said Ullmark to Sens360.
Old Norse snake or not – the competition is still strong for Tre Kronor’s goalkeeper shovel.
In addition to Ullmark, Minnesota Wild duo Jesper Wallstedt and Filip Gustavsson as well as New Jersey Devils veteran Jacob Markström can be seen there.
Worth a look
