Through seven games, Jeremy Swayman leads the NHL in save percentage and goals against average, but the 24-year-old netminder's success goes even deeper.

Jeremy Swayman lost his first start of the season on Saturday, 3-2 in overtime to the Montreal Canadiens, but the blame could go to anyone else but him.

The Bruins goalie is 6-0-1 with a .944 save percentage and 1.69 goals against average, leading the league in both categories. Everyone knew the Bruins goaltending tandem of Swayman and Linus Ullmark would be the strength of the team entering the season, but Swayman’s step forward is at least a little surprising. Especially since he is upstaging the reigning Vezina Trophy winner.

“We were lucky to be in the position we were, up 1-0,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery told reporters after the game on Saturday. “I think that’s Swayman, again, gets us a point.”

Nick Suzuki’s power-play goal for Montreal and Matt Poitras’ failed clearance attempt to Kaiden Guhle in overtime ultimately sealed the Bruins’ fate, but at 5-on-5, Swayman was nearly perfect.

He stopped 19 of 20 shots (.950) at 5-on-5, allowing one goal with 1.88 expected goals against, according to Natural Stat Trick. He stopped every mid- and low-danger chance at 5-on-5 (11-for-11 combined), and Brendan Gallagher’s goal on the doorstep to give Montreal a 2-1 lead 51 seconds into the third period was the only high-danger chance he conceded, stopping six others.

Obviously the goals allowed on the penalty kill and at 3-on-3 in overtime changed the overall calculus, but Swayman held up his end of the deal through 48:12 of 5-on-5 play.

Despite allowing the close-range goal to Gallagher, Swayman’s success at stopping high-danger chances is what has been setting him apart. 

According to NHL EDGE, Swayman’s .905 save percentage on high-danger shots ranks in the 95th percentile of the NHL. He’s faced 63 such shots, and the league-average is at 49, meaning that high save percentage is not a result of low volume. In fact, he’s succeeding despite a high volume of high-danger shots.

Still, Swayman was quick to credit the defense in front of him on Saturday.

“It’s a team effort. We couldn’t have gone to overtime without the boys in front of me, so [I’m] happy with that,” Swayman said. “But again, we want to execute all the way through and finish games out.”

Looking beyond the score sheet, Swayman even showed some extra edge following a scrum in which Gallagher ripped his mask off at 15:44 of the third period, seemingly staring down Canadiens goalie Sam Montembeault at the other end of the ice, but officials broke things up before they could escalate. Swayman downplayed the significance of it after the game.

“I think it was a scrum, hockey play. You see it 10 times a night,” Swayman said. “Nothing different.”

Whatever it was, Swayman is playing like a man on a mission, and through seven starts backstopping a Bruins team still sorting things out in both the forward and defense groups, so far it’s mission accomplished.