Linus Ullmark admits season has been "overwhelming," but veterans like Brad Marchand keep him on course

BOSTON -- The Boston Bruins are ridiculous. Linus Ullmark is ridiculous. It's been a story since the season began, and it's only continued as the season has gone on.

The Bruins added a 4-1 win over the Islanders on Wednesday night to their pile of victories on the season, improving to a league-best 35-5-4. With 74 points in the standings, they have 12 more points than any other team in the NHL.

Ullmark stopped 25 of the 26 shots he faced to improve his record to an unbelievable 24-2-1 mark just past the halfway point of the season. He leads the league in goals-against average by a massive margin, with his 1.88 GAA sitting 0.28 goals better than the second-ranked Filip Gustavsson. He likewise holds the NHL lead in save percentage at .937, which is 11 points better than the second-ranked Gustavsson. (And Gustavsson has only started 17 games. Ullmark's lead over goalies with at least 25 starts is even greater.)

Considering Ullmark is now two wins shy of tying his single-season career high, and considering how he's significantly outperformed all of his career numbers, the 29-year-old was asked Wednesday night if he feels overwhelmed by it all. He did not hesitate to say yes.

"I think you put it pretty well. It has been overwhelming. I'm not gonna lie," Ullmark said. "It has been a different kind of a season, definitely, and it's taken a lot of me mentally to keep going and not be kind of satisfied. Because it's hard. If you've had the luxury now at half of the season to be at this point, usually, I mean, you're at this point at the end of the season. So I have a lot of gratitude toward all the boys in here that go to work every single night, so kudos to them."

Ullmark was then asked what has kept him from getting too satisfied with his performance thus far.

"I think Marchy has a big -- no, seriously," Ullmark said while drawing a laugh from Brad Marchand's corner of the visiting locker room at UBS Arena. "We have a lot of guys in this team that have been around the league for a long time, and they know that you can't get satisfied, because there's such small details that can make something crumble. And he's one of those guys, and he's always honest with me. Whenever, if he feels like I'm taking a day off, he's always right there up my ass and tells me to get going."

That ... isn't surprising in the least, as Marchand has been around a ton of successful regular-season teams and has always played in front of an elite goaltender. He's also not "shy" by the conventional definition of the word, so it's fitting with Marchand's personality that he's there to pester Ullmark after seeing any evidence of slacking, even if that's in practice.

It's obviously working, and head coach Jim Montgomery remains impressed by what he's seeing on a nightly basis -- even with parts of Ullmark's game that don't involve stopping pucks.

"Oh my God, his hockey sense is unreal. He's really good," Montgomery said when asked about this piece of puck-handling by his goalie:

"Most underrated part that I never hear people talk about, how well he plays the puck, his decision-making," Montgomery continued. "So that takes a lot of poise and shows just the confidence he has besides the numerous good saves he made tonight."

Clearly, there's not much that's going wrong with Ullmark's game this season. And Marchand will be doing his part to ensure it stays that way.