TORONTO — Boston Bruins coach Jim Montgomery thinks goaltender Jeremy Swayman‘s dominance against the Toronto Maple Leafs — before and during their current first-round Stanley Cup playoff series — has started to rattle some players.
Montgomery made that suggestion in reference to an incident late in Boston’s 4-2 victory over the Leafs in Game 3 on Wednesday, when Toronto forward Max Domi appeared to seek out Swayman — owner of a 5-0-0 record versus the Leafs this season — during a TV timeout.
“Normally, I don’t think that [a goalie has one team’s number],” Montgomery said Thursday. “But when Domi goes off the bench and bumps [Swayman] on purpose, makes me think that maybe he’s in their head a little bit.”
Boston forward Trent Frederic — who got the Bruins on the board with a first-period goal in Game 3 — saw the interaction between Domi and Swayman, too. He agreed with Montgomery it might have revealed some mounting exasperation from the Leafs over Swayman’s recent success.
“Maybe Sway is getting in their head; he’s making a lot of saves,” Frederic said. “So, bump our goalies. I don’t know, didn’t work [for them] last night.”
That was ultimately true. Despite any on-ice antics, Swayman downed Toronto once again with a 28-save performance in Game 3 to give Boston a 2-1 series lead. Swayman previously made 35 stops in the Bruins’ 5-1 victory in Game 1, and then was replaced by Linus Ullmark in Game 2 (a 3-2 Bruins loss).
Toronto had better results against Ullmark, but the Leafs still haven’t managed more than three goals in a game so far this postseason. It’s a troubling trend that pre-dates facing Swayman and the Bruins (Toronto’s actually gone 10 consecutive playoff games scoring three or fewer goals) and those struggles have been magnified this time around by their lifeless power play (1-for-11) failing to fire in this series either.
Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe refuted the Bruins’ narrative though that their goaltender was somehow throwing Toronto off its game. In Keefe’s mind, the Domi bump was just part and parcel of this time of year.
“It’s playoff hockey, and things are happening all over the ice,” said Keefe. “With that logic [from Montgomery] you would say every time they bump into one of our guys maybe we’re in their heads”
Keefe also said he sensed “zero frustration” from his team over the low scoring output. The…
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