Jeremy Swayman stopped all 23 shots against him for his 10th career shutout, as the Boston Bruins beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-0 at United Center on Tuesday night. The win marked the sixth straight for the Bruins to begin the 2023-24 season, tying a franchise record, and finished off a perfect 4-0 Western Conference road trip.
Boston out-shot Chicago 43-23 on the night, dominating possession and shot attempts in addition to getting Swayman’s stout goaltending. Swayman is now 3-0 on the season, and with the shutout, he raised his save percentage to .957 and lowered his goals against average to 1.34.
The game’s first goal didn’t come until nearly 14 minutes into the game – or so it seemed. Initially, Blackhawks star rookie Connor Bedard took advantage of a Charlie Coyle giveaway right to him in the slot and ripped an absolute rocket past Swayman. But the Bruins challenged for offside, and the officials ended up overturning Bedard’s goal after determining that the Blackhawks’ Andreas Athanasiou entered the zone offside leading up to the score.
Chicago wasn’t able to redeem the lost goal by the end of the first period, as the teams took a scoreless game into the first intermission. Boston held an 11-8 shots on goal advantage through 20 minutes, but multiple bad turnovers contributed to a 2-3 deficit in high-danger scoring chances.
Connor Bedard's goal is taken away because of an offside challenge. The celly was still sweet. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/p7cdqcqkm5
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) October 25, 2023