One of the first things Jeremy Swayman asked Bruins general manager Don Sweeney when he got sent to Providence was if Linus Ullmark or Tuukka Rask struggled, would he “get the net” again.
That time came Tuesday, and it certainly wasn’t his best showing in Boston’s 4-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins at TD Garden.
Swayman, who was recalled by the Bruins amid Tuukka Rask’s lingering injury and now reported impending retirement, stopped 21 of 24 shots but really struggled in the second period. Former Bruin Danton Heinen potted two goals in 28 seconds to tie the game before Sidney Crosby scored what proved to be the game-winner on a Penguins power play.
Yes, the defense absolutely could have played better in front of Swayman, but it was the goaltending that was head coach Bruce Cassidy’s main takeaway from the loss.
“Goaltending picks you up some nights and it can deflate you, I think we saw both in the second period and so it gets away from us a little bit,” Cassidy told reporters after the game. “I mean you’re not going to play a perfect game. Their guy made more stops than our guy did and I think that ends up being, to me, the bigger story in the game.
“… Did we make some mistakes in front of our goaltender? Yes. But I don’t think we made a mistake on the second goal. It was kind of a bad one. …”
Tristan Jarry couldn’t stop giving up rebounds in the first period, and the Bruins couldn’t capitalize, so they certainly had their chances to build upon their lead and give Swayman some extra cushion to work with, but that wasn’t the case, and Swayman wasn’t able to steal a game.
Swayman proved to be incredibly poised last season after giving up a goal, and even after a loss, which didn’t come often in his 10 games played in 2020-21. A start like this was bound to happen for the rookie, and there’s no reason to think he will dwell on it or that this will become a trend.
But Swayman wanted to make sure he got the net, and now he is, and may be getting more starts at the NHL level should Rask choose to hang up the skates.
If the season ended today, the Bruins would be in the playoffs and would be reliant on Ullmark and Swayman to help carry the team to wins. But they will be reliant on Swayman much more going forward to avoid overuse of Ullmark, which fans saw happen with Rask all too often in the past.
At the end of the day, bad starts are going to happen. There’s no reason to believe Tuesday was a glimpse of Swayman’s future. But the Bruins are thin at the goalie position, and this very well could be Swayman’s time to shine and show he is as capable as he’s shown in other starts.
