Bruins fall in overtime in first Ullmark vs. Swayman battle
A constant in the success of the Bruins for three seasons, the hug between Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark had become the stuff of local legend.
It was not just a sign that the Bruins had won that night’s game, but also an undeniable representation of the connection Boston’s two-headed monster in goal had with one another as friends and teammates (and borderline family, to be honest), as well as their ability to push one another for minutes in perhaps the healthiest goalie competition in NHL history.
A summertime trade (as well as a ridiculous 2024 postseason run from Swayman), put an end to that competition, and though the postgame hugs were turned to a pregame hug on this occasion, the first actual round of the Swayman vs. Ullmark battle went to Ullmark by way of a 3-2 overtime win at TD Garden.
Ottawa’s victory, which came just 21 seconds into overtime and off the stick of Brady Tkachuk, came as a fitting capper to a second-half slog that saw the Bruins go the entire third period without a shot on goal, and just one shot on Ullmark in overtime before Tkachuk scored at the other end.
Down 1-0 through 20 minutes of action, the Bruins found their gear with a furious second-period effort that included a pair of strikes in a 15-second span, with the first from Pavel Zacha and the second from Brad Marchand. For Zacha, the spinning backhand through Ullmark made it two straight games with a tally for Zacha after having gone through a ridiculous dry spell that featured zero goals in 13 games after his shorthanded strike on Opening Night down in Sunrise.
But the second-period push from Boston did not come without a sour finish, courtesy of a Michael Amadio strike with just 2:44 remaining in the frame.
It was a goal that the Bruins simply never recovered from, either, with an aforementioned third-period showing that left the Bruins without a single shot on Ullmark’s cage. The Bruins were hardly even close to landing one, too, with offensive-zone entries consistently stalling out or shut down by Ottawa.
Boston’s 16 shots on goal in the losing effort finished as the second-fewest they’ve landed in a game this season, ahead of only Halloween’s 15-shot nightmare against the Hurricanes down in Carolina.
The Bruins did decide to acknowledge Ullmark’s Bruins contributions with an in-game tribute video that highlighted some of the top saves from Ullmark’s three-year tenure with the Black and Gold, which also featured a Vezina Trophy win as well as the first goalie goal in Bruins history.
Up on level nine, Bruins forward Morgan Geekie was a healthy scratch for the third straight game. The struggling Geekie, who has effectively been replaced by Tyler Johnson since Johnson signed with the club last Tuesday, has produced just two assists and a minus-4 rating through 11 games this season.
The Bruins will now embark on a two-game road trip that’ll feature stops in St. Louis and Dallas.
