Bruins need better from Jeremy Swayman to finish regular season strong originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
BOSTON — Goaltending has been the Bruins‘ primary strength for most of the 2023-24 NHL season, but Jeremy Swayman‘s dip in performance of late is starting to become a concern as the Stanley Cup Playoffs approach.
Swayman entered Thursday night’s showdown against the Metropolitan Division-leading New York Rangers having given up nine goals on 50 shots over his last two starts. This matchup at TD Garden was a great opportunity for him to get back on track with a quality outing against a top contender in the Eastern Conference.
But Swayman was not at his best. In fairness, the Bruins certainly didn’t help him much. An inability to clear the puck from the defensive zone and a couple bad turnovers led to the Rangers‘ first two goals, but all three goals Swayman allowed Thursday were shots he could have stopped. And when the margin for error is so slim against a high-powered team such as New York, the B’s needed their goalie to make a couple more clutch saves.
The first Rangers goal beat Swayman five-hole. Pavel Zacha might have screened his goalie a little bit.
“It was kind of a broken play and then it went through a couple skates,” Swayman said postgame when asked about the goal. “One that I can work on, seeing through traffic. Another opportunity I can work on, make a save and we move on from that and finish off the period.”
The Rangers got a fortunate bounce on Artemi Panarin’s second goal. Jake DeBrusk slid on the ice toward his net and accidentally knocked the puck past Swayman and past the goal line. It was a tough goal to give up with the second intermission 34 seconds away.
The Bruins tied the score 2-2 just 3:17 into the third period on Justin Brazeau‘s third goal in the last two games.
But it took the Rangers only 40 seconds to regain the lead on a goal by defenseman Adam Fox that beat Swayman up high at the near post. It was a great shot, but that’s a moment when the Bruins really needed a save from Swayman. They had taken back the momentum after a bad second period, and then they gave it back almost instantly.
The Rangers tacked on two empty-net goals late in the third period to secure a 5-2 win and a season sweep of the Bruins (3-0-0).
Swayman has allowed three or more goals in eight of his 10 starts since the All-Star break ended in early February. Here’s where he ranks in a couple important statistics during that span among the 46 goalies…