Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark have been a solid tandem between the pipes for the Boston Bruins this season, and questions about who the No. 1 goalie is have been surrounding the duo all year.
Head coach Bruce Cassidy laid out a plan for the usage of Swayman and Ullmark, and that got briefly railroaded when Tuukka Rask attempted to come back from months of rigorous rehab after undergoing offseason hip surgery to repair a torn labrum.
Swayman has been stellar since returning from Providence after Rask retired and has been on a hot stretch since being called out by Cassidy on Feb. 8 after a less-than-ideal start against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The rookie goalie is 7-0-1 in his last eight starts and is making a clear-cut case to be the Bruins’ No. 1 goalie. Swayman will get the start Thursday when Boston hosts the Chicago Blackhawks at TD Garden, a game after Ullmark was handed the loss in an overtime defeat at the hands of the Anaheim Ducks.
Cassidy has made comments about Swayman being ahead of Ullmark in the competition throughout the season and he did the same Wednesday after the Bruins practiced at Warrior Ice Arena. When asked about how Ullmark, a veteran goalie in the NHL, is dealing with competition, Cassidy had nothing but positive things to say.
“He’s been good every day. Linus comes in in a good frame of mind. He’s positive, he wants to work. (Wednesday) they had a good goalie practice, he stayed out after to get the extra work,” Cassidy told reporters after practice, per team-provided audio. “I think he understands he’s in a battle to get the net every night, especially with how Jeremy’s going. We talked this morning as a matter of fact, and periodically about what’s happening. We’re getting to the part of the season where every part of the lineup we want to drill down and not say, ‘Oh we got to get this guy a start’ or, ‘Our seventh D needs to play, so we got to get him in to take a guy out.’ It’s more about, OK this is our lineup, lets make sure we’re continuing to build our game toward the end of the year. It’s that phase of the year.
“Now, we’re never going to play one goalie — we have 25 games left — like 20 games. We’re not going to do that. We haven’t done that around here for years. I think Tuukka (Rask) did that before I got here, he was getting that 80% of starts type of thing. But there will be a guy getting more starts than the other and that’s production-based right now and who’s going better. I think Sway’s a little ahead of Linus right now, and it’s up to Linus to sort of recognize the competition and get the net back if he feels he should be in there. That’s kind of the message. That’s where we’re at right now. To say it again, he has been very good, very positive and he’s trying to work on his game to get to that level, and he’s supporting Swayman every step of the way, so that’s a good relationship.”
Swayman has spoken highly of the relationship he has with Ullmark, and it’s clear from their postgame hug to sharing smelling salts before puck drop that they are pretty close.
