The Boston Bruins have lived by a goalie rotation system for the last two seasons, and it worked. The duo of Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman carried the team to the best regular season in NHL history in 2022-23. They followed that up with a second-place finish in the Atlantic Division in 2023-24 that exceeded preseason expectations. They need to revert back to that system now if they want to push for a Stanley Cup.
Goaltending Lessons From Last Postseason
Last postseason, the Bruins benched Swayman in favor of Ullmark until Game 7 of their first-round series against the Florida Panthers. By then, their 1B netminder had not seen the ice in over two weeks, and it was too late. Swayman came up one save short, and the Bruins lost in overtime to exit the playoffs. Ullmark did not play poorly throughout the series, but more than once, he did not look like the season’s Vezina Trophy winner.
Fans and analysts had called for Swayman to appear earlier in the series. Ullmark, however, was the hot hand and the better of the two during the regular season. While the roles are reversed in 2023-24, with Swayman carrying the weight for most of round one and into round two, the same lesson applies: Ullmark and Swayman are dominant because they don’t have to bear all the workload, like Juuse Saros or Alexander Georgiev.
2024 NHL Playoffs
There is no denying that Swayman was unbelievable in Round 1, and his stellar play continued into Game 1 of Round 2 against the same Panthers. His performance against the Toronto Maple Leafs was as good as any we’ve seen in recent years, and if it had been anyone else in net, the Bruins’ season might be over.
The Alaskan netminder went seven consecutive games allowing two goals or fewer, and he did it in style, making several highlight-reel saves along the way. Even if the Bruins can’t move past the Panthers, their fans will remember his performance against the Maple Leafs. That said, his magical run was stymied by the Panthers in Game 2 on Wednesday night. He allowed three goals in the second period after blanking them in the first frame – the third came with less than a second left on the clock. He was pulled after allowing a fourth goal to start the third.
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