Jim Montgomery praises Jeremy Swayman, despite Bruins' blowout loss

BOSTON -- The Bruins lost Game 2 against the Panthers by a final score of 6-1. Jeremy Swayman, who's taken the reins as the team's starting goaltender this postseason, was pulled after Florida took a 4-1 lead early in the third period.

Considering Swayman had only allowed one or two goals in his first seven postseason starts this year, the four goals allowed (on 23 shots) represented a significant drop back to earth for the 25-year-old.

Yet according to Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery, Swayman had a tremendous night in goal. It was the rest of the team that sputtered.

"Swayman was terrific," Montgomery said.

Swayman and Linus Ullmark have essentially split time as the team's starting goalie over the past two years, which means Swayman has never played this many games in a row at the NHL level, and he's never played this many games in such a condensed schedule. Because of that, Montgomery was asked if the heavy workload had caught up to the netminder.

"No, the workload hasn't played into Jeremy Swayman. The workload played into our effort tonight," Montgomery said. "We didn't have juice tonight."

Montgomery said he thought about taking Swayman out of the game after the second intermission, when the score was 3-1, just to give him a rest of sorts. And while Montgomery did make the call just 88 seconds into the third period, he made sure to note that Swayman "made two great saves before it went in."

So it doesn't sound as if there will be much doubt or question heading into Friday night's Game 3 in Boston regarding the starting goaltender for the Bruins. Yet the third period in a game when Bruins skaters likely weren't going to mount a comeback offered the coach an opportunity for Ullmark to get his first playing time since Game 2 of the opening round. Ullmark didn't fare any better, allowing two goals on the 10 shots he faced.

Through it all, Swayman is keeping his trademark sense of positivity moving forward.

"We have so much belief in this room, we have so much confidence in this room," Swayman told reporters. "And to see the way that we responded, we're never gonna back down. And there's so much to be excited for come Friday."