Bruins will give the net to a rookie goaltender on Tuesday
Tuesday will come with the regular season NHL debut for one of the Bruins’ highly-touted goaltending prospects, with Jeremy Swayman or Daniel Vladar expected in net for a start against the Penguins.
“We’re going to put Vladar or Swayman in tomorrow,” Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy confirmed after his team’s 4-1 loss to the Penguins. “And we’ll discuss that probably tonight. [We’ll] give Jaro a break.”
On the second leg of a back-to-back, with Halak in next for the last four starts and Tuukka Rask still unavailable due to an undisclosed injury, this was known as the B’s path before even arriving in Pittsburgh. But the fact that Cassidy had yet to commit to which guy would be the one to get his goalie skates wet under NHL ice is certainly interesting.
With the Bruins on a taxi squad recall, the 22-year-old Swayman is with the Big B’s after a start to his pro career that’s included a perfect 7-0-0 record, 1.57 goals against average, and .942 save percentage for the P-Bruins.
The 6-foot-5 Vladar, meanwhile, has a 2-2-1 record, 2.01 goals against average, and .923 save percentage for Providence this season. Vladar is the more experienced of the two, too, with 73 AHL appearances over the last five seasons.
Vladar has also served as Halak’s backup in three straight games (and four games in total this season), and appeared in relief of Halak during the 2020 postseason bubble in Toronto, which you assume would almost give him the advantage.
The Bruins will enter Tuesday with losses in four of their last five games (1-3-1).
