How Jeremy Swayman Proved He’s Ready For Bruins Starting Role
Jeremy Swayman made 26 saves Friday as the Boston Bruins lost 2-1 to the Florida Panthers in Game 6 at TD Garden.
How Jeremy Swayman Proved He’s Ready For Bruins Starting RoleChants of “SWAY-MAN” roared down from the TD Garden crowd as the Boston Bruins made their way through the handshake line with the Florida Panthers.
Friday’s 2-1, Game 6 loss signaled the end of the Bruins’ season, but it also represented a turning point in Jeremy Swayman’s career. The 25-year-old proved he can handle the physical and mental workload of a starting goaltender outside of Boston’s signature rotation.
“Jeremy Swayman was terrific. Night in and night out gave us an opportunity to win. Every night making sensational saves,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said Friday. “His competitiveness was something that our players and I think our team and our bench fed off of.”
Swayman was a difference maker in all 12 of his postseason starts, posting a 2.15 goals against average and .933 save percentage. He made 26 saves in Game 6, including 11 in the second period. It was a rebound shot from Gustav Forsling with 1:33 remaining in the third that advanced the Panthers to the Eastern Conference Final.
Boston, simply put, did not play well enough to beat Florida. Nonetheless, Swayman carried them to a Game 6 on home ice in which they were one goal away from forcing a Game 7. A season’s final buzzer always stings, but the fans broke through the frustration to flurry Swayman with the flowers he deserves.
“Tears. I couldn’t be more grateful to have a city, have a homebase that’s as supportive as Boston,” Swayman said Friday of hearing his name chanted. “To hear that was above and beyond. I’m just so grateful for all the love and support. We wouldn’t be here without them, so that was an incredible moment to be a part of.”
Swayman is now headed into a summer of free agency. The goalie signed a one-year, $3.475 contract with the Bruins in August after an arbitration hearing, and the team will likely do everything in its power to lock him down for the future.
Linus Ullmark will be on the last season of his four-year, $20 million contract with Boston. It’s yet to be seen if Ullmark will remain a Bruin come October, but one thing’s clear – Swayman is going to get paid and rightfully so.
“He really took over. I think that’s something that gave us success obviously. I don’t think we get through Toronto, I don’t even think we end this series the way we did without him,” Jake DeBrusk said Friday. “I think he’s a big-game player…He was the only reason we were in it to be honest.”
There were a handful of takeaways from the Bruins’ postseason run, namely their inability to score. Worries about goaltending, though, were nonexistent.
After winning Game 1 against Florida 5-1, Boston proceeded to log a cumulative eight goals through five games. Pavel Zacha’s goal at 19:07 of the opening frame gave the Bruins an obvious lift, but they were unable to extend the lead in their most important contest of the year thus far.
The play marked Zacha’s first career playoff goal in 25 appearances, and sixth point of this postseason. Prior to his tally, Zacha had gone three games without a point after posting three assists in the first two games of the series.
It was the story of the series: no matter how good Swayman was, the guys in front of him had to put the puck in the net and they didn’t often enough.
“I didn’t sense frustration, but the lack of our ability to score in the playoffs in general,” Montgomery said. “You can’t win every game 2-1.”
The Bruins have a projected $22.5 million in cap space this offseason and will need to use a portion of it on offensive upgrades to supplement their all-star goaltending. Swayman will no doubt be a priority, and lucky for the B’s, it seems like there’s no place he would rather be.
“Told these guys in the locker room after, I said I’ve never loved a team more,” Swayman said. “Every one of these guys took initiative to come to the rink every day and make this our family. I don’t think there’s many locker rooms in the world that have that.”
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