Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman thought this was his opportunity to try it with just over a minute left in Boston’s 4-2 win Saturday over the Columbus Blue Jackets at TD Garden.
Swayman gathered the puck behind Boston’s net and with Columbus having already pulled goalie Danil Tarasov, he unleashed a shot 200 feet to the other end of the ice.
But the attempt from the 24-year-old Bruins’ netminder missed just inches wide, robbing Swayman of tallying a rare feat. And even though he missed out on the chance, he was all smiles afterward.
“Yeah, I was looking at it and I was like, ‘Ok, this could be the one,'” Swayman told NESN’s Adam Pellerin, as seen on the network’s postgame coverage. “Unfortunately (not). That’s not the last time I’ll try it, though.”
It seemed like nearly everyone on the Bruins was pulling for Swayman’s shot to slide into the net. But they all, like Swayman, just had to watch it go painstakingly close to the outside of the left post. Maybe a Carlton Fisk-type wave from Swayman would have made the difference.
“For him to try that empty-net goal, I wish it would have gone in,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery told NESN’s Jack Edwards and Andy Brickley, as seen on the network’s postgame coverage. “A little more English on it.”
The near goalie goal was just a minor part, and definitely not the most important, of a stellar performance from Boston’s anchor between the pipes. Swayman recorded a season-high 31 saves, 11 of which came with the Bruins shorthanded.
Bruins forward Taylor Hall was just excited about Swayman’s shot attempt as well as him routinely stonewalling the Blue Jackets.
“I was pumped,” Hall told reporters, as seen on NESN postgame coverage. “It’s so hard to tell from the bench where the puck’s going, but that would have been awesome. That was a heads up play to see that they (came) in with not a lot of pressure. Sway’s a guy that works hard on his puck handling. He’s really improved a lot as he’s come into the league. That would have been awesome to see to cap off a really good night for him.
“He needed that and he was strong for us when we needed him. Like I said, we weren’t our best, but Sway was our best player back there.”
