Ullmark has been in the grand scheme of a dream season for the Boston Bruins

If you believe Boston Bruins coach Jim Montgomery, Linus Ullmark will be good to go when they open the Stanley Cup playoffs Monday night at home against the Florida Panthers (NESN, 98.5 FM).

If you breathed a sigh of relief at Montgomery's usage of the term "precaution" after Ullmark was removed late in last Tuesday's penultimate game against Washington, it doesn't mean you think Jeremy Swayman cannot do the job. It only means you recognize how important Ullmark has been in the grand scheme of a dream season that has seen the 65-12-5 Bruins eclipse the highest point total in NHL history (135-132).

What made the 60-8-12 Montreal Canadiens of 1976-77 great was not a magical campaign where a dozen X-factors all turned up roses, the Habs were in the middle of a unique run as the only post-expansion team (1967-) to obliterate the competition in both the regular season and playoffs three straight years. (In 1979, the tiring Habs missed first overall by one point and still won the Cup for a fourth straight year - we won't reminisce any further).

So what about this perfect storm of 2022-23 that has led to so many black-and-gold goalie hugs? In other words, how did the Bruins get here?

Without defensemen Charlie McAvoy and Matt Grzelcyk to start the season, Montgomery carefully involved Swayman while giving Ullmark the pressure starts. Ullmark responded with a 22-2 record through the Winter Classic. He allowed two goals in each loss (one went to a shootout, the other a 2-1 loss at Toronto).

Ullmark's 40-6-1 season record, 1.89 goals-against average and .938 save percentage are all league leaders, and the save percentage ties him with Tim Thomas (2010-11) for the single-season, franchise record.

That last one is actually an apropos statistic, considering both Ullmark and Thomas were always great competitors honing their skills out of the limelight - until their teams weren't lousy anymore.

As votes come due on NHL regular-season awards before the puck drops on the playoffs, there has been an emerging narrative out there in rival cities that says the Bruins are a wagon and Ullmark's incredible season is a byproduct thereof.

First, a disclaimer: If I had a stone in hockey's graveyard, it would read, "Goalies get too much credit and take too much blame. Their teams make them look better than they are and, in most cases, worse."

In fairness to anyone who would take this philosophy and, from a comfortable distance factor in Boston's league-leading, plus-128 goal differential (Dallas finished second at plus-67), it is reasonable to throw support for the Vezina behind the Islanders' Ilya Sorokin, for example.

After all, the Islanders battled all season for their playoff berth while the Bruins were chasing their place in history.

But then there are those of us who watched Ullmark stop breakaways and other assorted Grade A scoring opportunities in games where his team was otherwise outplayed. This wasn't 1971 all over again, when every other game was a laugher.

In 24 decisions through his 2-1 victory over Pittsburgh on January 2 at Fenway Park, Ullmark went 7-2 in nine, one-goal games and also won four two-goal games via empty-net goals. That's 13 of the 24 that were tight as a drum. Of nine games during that stretch against teams that wound up missing the playoffs, five were desperate teams on the playoff bubble.

All that duly noted, Ullmark should not only be the hands-down Vezina Trophy winner but a solid second choice for the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP behind Edmonton superstar Connor McDavid. If you've never seen McDavid play and there is a cell in your brain that remembers enjoying hockey at any time in your life, please watch No. 97 in these upcoming playoffs.

Before opponents figured out the Bruins, Montgomery's reinvention of their offense around puck support led to sustained possessions against surprised forecheckers who found themselves scrambling to recover position.

The new system worked the puck rather than shoot it, and all five skaters participated equally in creating the right shot. Over several weeks, the customary groaning from TD Garden's balcony ("Shoot the puck!") slowly gave way to patient anticipation.

Alas, these are not your Bruce Cassidy (i.e. shot-volume) Bruins, much less your Bourque-Neely (pour-it-on) Bruins.

They are a team with a hundred ways to win, a generational goal scorer in David Pastrnak and, most importantly, a stiff set of talented blueliners able to  defend both sides of the ice against size or speed.

For the first time since the Claude Julien era, the Bruins are tough enough to win four rounds, and they are motivated to get elder statesmen Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci another ride on Boston's duckboats.

First up is mouthguard-chewing Matthew Tkachuk and the red-hot Panthers. One of two bruising NHL sons of Boston native and should-be Hall of Famer Keith Tkachuk, Matthew (40-69-109 and 123 PIM's) is a handful.

Saddle up.

Mick Colageo writes about hockey for The Standard-Times. Follow on Twitter @MickColageo.

5 Places the Bruins got better

1. Goal: In a season that began with a new coach and without two regular defensemen, it was imperative that goaltending hold the fort until the Bruins got traction. Jennings Trophy winners Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman have simply been elite.

2. The left side: Run over by Andrei Svechnikov in Game 2 of the 2022 Carolina series, it was as if the Bruins had never acquired Hampus Lindholm. This time around, they've got Lindholm and Dmitry Orlov matching up on the left side against speed, skill and physicality. The ceiling is hereby off the Bruins.

3. Eric Haula for Pavel Zacha: The real prize in this 2022 swap with New Jersey is Zacha looms as a long-term solution at center ice. In the immediate, his big strides add to Montgomery's army of puck hunters.

4. David Pastrnak and Jake DeBrusk, etc.: Yes, they were here, but Pasta has gone from sometimes soggy to al dente as in elite, and DeBrusk from trying to find his way to a model of consistency. Before his injury, Nick Foligno (and Trent Frederic) found a new rhythm for the game under Montgomery.

5. Tyler Bertuzzi and Garnet Hathaway: To whatever extent the Bruins still needed to add some old-school snarl, it came in a deadline package accented by Bertuzzi's elite passing ability.

5 Playoff Concerns

1. Ullmark's health: The 6-foot-5, 29-year-old netminder tweaked something going post to post late in Boston's April 11 win over Washington.

2. Generosity: For all their brilliance, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak must stop forcing plays that can gift opponents odd-man rushes.

3. Complacency: The Bruins don't deserve to read this, but they all know by experience that their long-held playoff security means the underdogs will organically find their A game sooner.

4. Ticky-Tack: The powerplay has been sketchy at best, so if the referees devolve the hockey into a special-teams contest, the Bruins must maintain the best penalty kill in the game.

5. Noise: The Bruins are historically stellar at tuning out the static, but especially after the historic season they've enjoyed, the gloomers and doomers will be salivating should they fall behind in a series.

LW ... C ... RW

63 Marchand ... 37 Bergeron ... 74 DeBrusk

18 Zacha ... 46 Krejci ... 88 Pastrnak

71 Hall ... 13 Coyle ... 59 Bertuzzi

11 Frederic ... 92 Nosek ... 21 Hathaway

LD ... RD

81 Orlov ... 73 McAvoy

27 Lindholm ... 25 Carlo

48 Grzelcyk ... 75 Clifton

G: 35 Ullmark ... 1 Swayman

Injured: D 28 Forbort, LW 17 Foligno

Reserves: D 67 Zboril, F 10 Greer, F 94 Lauko

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Boston Bruins 2023 playoff preview against Florida Panthers