Jeremy Swayman makes Bruins doubly dangerous down the stretch

BOSTON -- When the Bruins put together a historically successful start to the season, they did so largely by leaning on Linus Ullmark as their primary goaltender. Jeremy Swayman, who had a very successful first full season in the NHL a year ago, wasn't quite pulling his weight through the first three months of the season.

That, though, has changed quite a bit. And as a result, the Bruins are going to be that much tougher to beat for the stretch run of the regular season -- and beyond.

The 24-year-old Swayman turned in a 28-save shutout on Thursday night in Nashville, backstopping the Bruins in a 5-0 rout of the Predators. Though that score was lopsided, head coach Jim Montgomery heaped much of the credit for the victory on his goaltender.

"We gave up a lot of odd-man rushes tonight. I didn't think we were on top of our game. I think that if our goaltender wasn't as good as he was, it would've been a tight game," Montgomery said, per the Bruins' official website. "Our best player was Swayman because they had a lot of good things and he was patient on his feet and made a lot of good shoulder saves, gloves saves, and he didn't give up any rebounds."

For Swayman, this was his second shutout of the season, with his previous shutout coming exactly one month earlier.

"I don't get nervous. I get excited, right?" Swayman said when asked about one particular Grade-A opportunity against him in the third period. "It's the best game in the world, and the big moments are when it's most special."

Swayman added: "I mean this league, it's really hard to get wins in this league, let alone shutouts. So again, it's a team effort. The guys in front of me made it possible. Couldn't have done it without them."

Swayman was, obviously, quick to spread that credit around. But his performance Thursday was just the latest in what has been a strong turnaround that started right around the new year. 

Since his first start of 2023 on Jan. 5, Swayman is now 6-1-1 with a .948 save percentage and a 1.50 goals-against average. That came after Swayman started the year at 7-3-3 with an .897 save percentage and 2.68 GAA.

It's come at a useful time, too. Linus Ullmark, who remains the No. 1 netminder and a Vezina favorite, had started almost twice as many games as Swayman through the end of December. That was in part due to Ullmark's spectacular performance, obviously, but Swayman's sophomore slump likely forced Montgomery to ride Ullmark a bit more than the coach would have liked. The end result was wins -- many, many wins -- but likely at a pace that wasn't sustainable for a full 82 games plus what the Bruins hope to be a long postseason run.

Enter a renewed Swayman, who's started eight games to Ullmark's 10 since the Winter Classic on Jan. 2.

Swayman's actually outperformed Ullmark during that stretch, posting a better save percentage (.948, compared to Ullmark's .934) and GAA (1.50, compared to Ullmark's 1.92) over that span.

That is excellent news for Boston, as it serves a dual purpose of giving Boston elite goaltending while also allowing Ullmark to get more rest. Given the outstanding regular season Ullmark has had thus far, there's no question that he'll be the team's No. 1 goaltender entering the playoffs. That wasn't really the case last year, when the two netminders had nearly identical statistics entering the playoffs, with Ullmark starting the first two games in Carolina and Swayman starting the remaining five games of that series.

But when the playoffs do come around, Ullmark will be in much better shape to perform. 

After the Winter Classic, Ullmark was on pace to start 53 games this season. With Swayman's surge over the past seven weeks, Ullmark's now on pace to start 50 games. If Swayman can keep playing at this level, Ullmark's workload will drop even more. They each have started two games in February, after Swayman started seven games in January to Ullmark's eight. If the rest of the season plays out with a pure split like that, Ullmark will end up making 47 starts this year.

Considering Ullmark's career high in starts is 39 -- set last year -- it's likely best for him and the Bruins that he not tread into 50-plus-start territory. Swayman's making that possible while giving the Bruins ample opportunity to continue racking up victories.

Perhaps that shortened workload cuts into Ullmark's chances of taking home the Vezina Trophy. Perhaps. But if it helps better prepare Ullmark and the Bruins for a lengthy postseason run, it'll be a much larger positive for the team in the long run.