Bruins’ Montgomery explains his goalie plans
The number one question facing the Bruins, really from the start of the season, always came back to just how married the organization was going to be to the goaltending rotation that’s been the foundation of their success for three years.
Internally, the Bruins have always felt that both Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark gave the club a comparable chance of winning that night’s game. Both guys have had their high highs and their low lows, but the Black and Gold’s commitment to balancing each guy’s workload has never been a true problem for the team when done properly.
But through two postseasons, and with two different coaches, the Bruins had yet to commit themselves to anything resembling a true rotation in goal. Bruce Cassidy gave Ullmark the first two games of the team’s 2022 first-round series with the Hurricanes before he went to Swayman for the final five games. And in 2023, Jim Montgomery rode a battered Ullmark (the 6-foot-5 Ullmark was dealing with a groin injury) for six games before putting Swayman in an almost impossible spot in Game 7.
Both internally and externally, it was made known that that was going to change in 2024. Of course, whenever you tried to box the Bruins into committing to a strict rotation, they were quick to remind you that the results would dictate the decisions made, but they did essentially confirm that you would see both goaltenders early into a series.
And speaking after Game 4, with Swayman given consecutive starts for the first time in over two months, and with the Bruins making their way back to Boston with a 3-1 series lead, Montgomery gave a little bit of insight as to the process.
“What went into the decision was we rotated the first two games and then Swayman played so well, we were gonna go with the hot hand,” Montgomery said following his team’s Game 4 victory.
It’s a decision that’s become entirely too easy for Montgomery, too, as the 25-year-old Swayman has by all means refused to give up the net. In Boston’s Game 1 victory, Swayman turned aside 35-of-36 shots. And when the Bruins went back to him in Game 3 with the series tied 1-1 and the Bruins behind enemy lines, Swayman set the tone with a cool demeanor in goal and had a 28-of-30 line to put the series back in Boston’s control, and delivered once again on Saturday with a 25-of-26 outing.
Overall, it’s been enough to give Swayman a postseason-best .957 save percentage through three outings.
One gigantic factor in all of this has been the rather bizarre schedule — one that Montgomery himself complained about when the Bruins touched down in Toronto — that has allowed the Bruins to find what you would have to consider significant pockets of rest for their white-hot goaltender. By going to Swayman in Games 1 and 3, but not Game 2, the Bruins were able to keep Swayman refreshed for three full days. And then the league’s desire to have Bruins-Maple Leafs in a primetime Hockey Night in Canada spot on Saturday led to what was a considerable break for Game 4, with the B’s not in game action on Thursday and Friday.
That extra day off there made it two starts in four days for Swayman as opposed to two starts in three days. The former has been much more common for Swayman and the Bruins in 2023-24, and sticking with him for Saturday’s Game 4 avoided the potential problem of Swayman’s rest becoming rust for next Tuesday’s Game 5. And Game 5 will come with some more rest for the Bruins, as there is once again another extra day of rest tossed in there in the event that this series goes the distance with a Saturday night Game 7 next week in Boston, making the possibility of sticking with Swayman once again extremely real.
But don’t expect Montgomery to give anybody an early tip on that just yet.
“I don’t know,” Montgomery said of sticking with Swayman in Game 5. “We’ll find out on Tuesday.”