Bruins’ Montgomery dishes on giving Linus Ullmark the Game 2 start
After ending their regular season with Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark rotating starts for 26 straight games, the Bruins brought their rotation to the playoffs Monday night, as it was Ullmark who led the Bruins out to the ice at TD Garden.
And while it didn’t pan out to a victory, with the Maple Leafs knotting things up at 1-1 behind a 3-2 victory, it was a move that Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery didn’t seem to regret by any means.
“No second guesses,” Montgomery said of his call to go to Ullmark. “[Ullmark] was terrific. He made multiple big-time saves. And it’s a strength of our team. Both of them played really well, right? I mean, we only scored two goals.”
Ullmark found out he was getting the start following Sunday’s team meeting, and put forth a more than respectable effort despite the loss, with 30 saves on 33 shots thrown his way. Ullmark kept his team in it for prolonged stretches, too, and had some absolutely dazzling saves with the Bruins down a man in the second period of play.
Linus Ullmark keeps the game tied with a huge stop: pic.twitter.com/FqnWVga31Q
— Evan Marinofsky (@EvanMarinofsky) April 23, 2024
But similar to Saturday’s Game 1, the Bruins found themselves on their heels against this Toronto attack early and often, and did not do a strong job of sealing off the front of their net. In fact, that was how Toronto first got on the board in this contest, with Max Domi burying a net-front look just seconds after the Bruins jumped out to a 1-0 lead. The Bruins did not correct these issues at any point throughout the night, and Toronto at one point held a staggering 14-5 edge in slot shots.
And while Ullmark continued to make save after save, the dam ultimately broke when Auston Matthews went full Randy Moss and caught a Hail Mary feed from Domi to earn himself a breakaway and snipe on Ullmark. (Turns out a 69-goal scorer is going to be pretty damn lethal when given the space to create a breakaway opportunity for himself.)
AUSTON MATTHEWS SHAKE AND BAKE!! pic.twitter.com/BbweHHekfy
— Spittin' Chiclets (@spittinchiclets) April 23, 2024
To Montgomery’s point, the Bruins’ issues in this game did not come in their crease. One could argue that their goaltender was the only reason that they didn’t get their doors completely blown off onto the Zakim Bridge, as the Leafs finished Game 2 with 37 scoring chances compared to Boston’s 17, and doubled the B’s up in high-danger chances (14-7).
Linus Ullmark with a huge stop on Calle Jarnkrok: pic.twitter.com/6Rso5Y0ao9
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) April 23, 2024
As this series shifts to Toronto, the debate on the goaltending rotation will rage on.
The odds and a 28-game sample would indicate that the Bruins will go back to Jeremy Swayman for Game 3 considering that it’s both his turn in the rotation and this is a head-to-head that’s brought the best out of Swayman in 2023-24. Including his 35-of-36 line in Game 1, the 25-year-old Swayman is a perfect 4-0-0 with a .962 save percentage against Toronto this season.
But in a topic that’s always been given a ‘performance and results will dictate decisions’ qualifier from both coaches and management, Boston’s goaltending may be the only thing that’s carried its weight for the club through two games.