Bruins map out goaltending plans for yet another light week

Author Ty Anderson

November 3rd, 2021 5:20 PM

The Bruins have laid out their goaltending plans for a light two-game week, with Jeremy Swayman set to get the call Thursday night at home against the Red Wings and Linus Ullmark slated to face the Maple Leafs in Toronto this Saturday.

The decision to turn to Swayman tomorrow night comes with a week between starts for the 22-year-old, and with the Bruins hoping that some home cooking can get Swayman back on the winning track after two straight defeats.

“[Swayman] just needs to play,” Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy said following Wednesday’s practice in Brighton. “And it can’t be all road games as well, so let’s get him back in the net [at TD Garden]. There’s only two games this week.

“He needs to play some games to build up some game stamina, some game situations, some confidence, all those things. And I think Linus was in the same boat early on, now he’s played a few more and you’re starting to see him come around.”

And the Bruins aren’t overly interested in holding Swayman’s last two performances — a 19-of-24 loss in Philly and 21-of-23 hard-luck loss against the Hurricanes — against him for a number of fairly obvious reasons.

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  "The Philadelphia game, some pucks had eyes [and] he’d be the first to tell you that he should’ve made a few stops, but he hasn’t played enough," Cassidy said. "The Carolina game, he was solid but we put two in our own net. It’s hard to blame the goalie on those, and I’m not going to. I thought he was good in Carolina, we didn’t score for him.
  
  "Let’s see where he goes. We haven’t changed our opinion on him: He’s a real good goaltender. He just needs to play."
  
  Swayman is 1-2-0 with an .893 save percentage through his first three games of the 2021-22 season. 

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  Ullmark, meanwhile, will return to the net Saturday night on the heels of a 33-of-35 performance against the then-undefeated Panthers last Saturday night at TD Garden, and with a .927 save percentage through his first four games in a B's sweater. 
  
  "Linus is feeling good about his game and he should," Cassidy said. "I thought [Saturday] was his best all around."
  
  Saturday's start also gave the 28-year-old Ullmark the 'win' for the month of October, with four starts compared to Swayman's three, if you want to keep track of the Bruins' obvious week-to-week approach in net. 
  
  But the (meaningless) head-to-head scoreboard will remain a work in the progress in this brutally stop-and-start schedule for the Bruins throughout the month of November, with another unusually long break scheduled for the midpoint of this month. 
  
  "Just getting them both work, until we get going on the schedule, is going to be a challenge for guys to stay sharp," Cassidy admitted. 

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Ty Anderson is a writer and columnist for 985TheSportsHub.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of 98.5 The Sports Hub, Beasley Media Group, or any subsidiaries. Yell at him on Twitter: @_TyAnderson.

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Author Ty Anderson

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boston bruins,Jeremy Swayman,Linus Ullmark