Frustrated by his team's mounting losses, Boston Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman lashed out at his teammates during a brutal Game 4 blowout loss. Was it justified?
Jeremy Swayman is a big reason the Boston Bruins aren't cleaning their lockers on Monday.
They would not be heading back to Buffalo for Game 5 if it weren't for Swayman stopping 33 of 35 shots back in their Game 2 win, recording more than two goals saved above expected, according to moneypuck.com.
His bounce-back season after a rough 2024-25 campaign was also crucial in getting the Bruins back into the playoffs by five points over the ninth-place Washington Capitals.
So when Swayman appeared to tear into Boston's bench after getting pulled during Sunday's humiliating 6-1 Game 4 loss, it seemed overdue. Surrendering six goals on 29 shots is not a good look for him, but it looks worse on the team overall as it now faces elimination.
"We have a standard we hold ourselves to," Swayman told reporters Monday. "It wasn't met. (The outburst was) just emotion. It's moved on now going to Buffalo."
After missing the playoffs in 2024-25, the Bruins bounced back this season, thanks in no small part to a gutsy collective team effort and a resilience that made them a playoff team.
But thus far in their first-round series against the Buffalo Sabres, the Bruins have mostly been a major disappointment that blew a lead in Games 1 and 3 and embarrassed themselves at home on Sunday.
Swayman definitely cannot be blamed for those blown leads when he had save percentages of .919 and .931 in those games. Boston couldn't solve Sabres netminder Alex Lyon more than once in Games 3 and 4, either.
In fact, the Bruins' offense has been abysmal, scoring nine goals in four games. Their 2.25 goals per game are the fourth-fewest in the first round. Of the three teams below them, the Ottawa Senators and Los Angeles Kings were swept, and the Pittsburgh Penguins are also on the brink of elimination.
When you also factor in Boston allowing the second-most shots per game in the playoffs so far, Swayman's strong play overall in net is even more important than it may seem at first.
Thus, the writing feels like it's on the wall for the Bruins, because not even Swayman can carry this team to a series win right now. And when the Sabres pounced on Boston in Game 4, the emotional dam broke.
"He's frustrated, and he's allowed to show emotion," former NHL goalie Devan Dubnyk said on The Hockey News Big Show Monday.
"Especially when you're feeling pretty good, and you're seeing pucks, and then you just get overwhelmed like that, he wants to win as bad as anybody, and he wants to be in the net," Dubnyk added. "You never want to get taken out of there. So, I don't mind it. You don't want to do it all the time, but it's good for everybody to see that he's not OK. Nobody should be OK with what's going on."
The Bruins created a lot of goodwill among their expectant fan base by making the playoffs. But when you've been thoroughly thrashed in the opening round, you effectively squander that goodwill.
So if you're a Bruins fan, you have to hope they flush their subpar play and take a different approach in Game 5 on Tuesday.
It will be an opportunity for Bruins sniper David Pastrnak to make up for having one goal in four games so far. It will be an opportunity for more than just two players to average at least a point per game. And it will be an opportunity for defensemen, such as Hampus Lindholm and Charlie McAvoy, to make up for being a minus-5 and minus-4 player, respectively.
But most of all, it will be an opportunity to get back in this series and set the stage for a memorable comeback that gets them into the second round. And Swayman will continue to lead the way.
"Goalies are always leaders on the team," Dubnyk said. "It's going to be up to him now to make sure he gets out there and gets back to the way he was playing."
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