Have Bruins Relied ‘Too Much’ On Luxury Goaltender Tandem?

The Boston Bruins picked up right where they left off and also avenged their most recent loss to the Montreal Canadiens, snagging a 5-2 victory at TD Garden on Saturday night.

Obviously, scoring a combined 10 goals in the last two games makes for a solid enough foundation for back-to-back trips to the win column. However, the underlying enforcement of that comes from two key factors: Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark.

Just like last season, Boston’s unparalleled goaltender tandem provides Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery with a massive advantage over most teams. Whenever one top-tier goalie is seated, the other slides right in.

“We’ve relied on them a lot. A little bit too much in that area,” Brad Marchand said. “But when you have a goalie that makes saves like that, it just allows you to kind of take a breath, calm down, get back to playing your game, knowing that you make a mistake and break down the front’s always gonna be in the back of the net.”

Before Boston squared up with Montreal for puck-drop, Swayman (1.69) and Ullmark (2.23) entered the night both sitting within the NHL’s top 10 in goals against average, ranking first and eighth respectively. No other team across the league can say they have that at their disposal.

Swayman finished the night with 20 saves, holding an opponent to two or fewer goals for the seventh time in eight starts this season. He improved to a still-undefeated 7-0 record — in regulation — through eight career starts against Montreal.

“What he did tonight, he’s been like that all year so we’re very fortunate to have him back there holding it down for us,” Marchand explained.

With four victories in their last five games played, the Bruins sit atop the Eastern Conference with a red-hot 13-1-2 record.