Bruins netminder Jeremy Swayman is an awfully mild-mannered fella.

Dare we even say he sometimes walks the ‘goofy’ line. He loves rollerblading around the city (someone once tweeted at me that they thought they saw Swayman rollerblading in a parking garage and Swayman outright told me that it was indeed him). He was sporting a mustache long before ‘Movember’ started. In fact, when Swayman was asked about the B’s first road trip of the season, the first thing Swayman said was, “I got my mustache ready.” What that means, I still don’t know.

But in the third period of a Saturday night in Montreal, Swayman was ready for war. Be it with the ever-annoying Brendan Gallagher, goaltender Sam Montembeault at the other end of the rink, or just about anybody who was willing.

• It all started when a loose puck scramble in front of the Boston net led to Gallagher and Swayman coming face to face. And with Gallagher in his crease, Swayman decided to send a light shot to the head of Gallagher. It honestly looked like something designed to annoy Gallagher more than anything else, or take his helmet off his head. Gallagher responded with a ‘boop’ of his own, Swayman countered with another, and then finally it was Gallagher, who succeeded in this real life game of Rock ‘Em, Sock ‘Em as Swayman’s helmet popped free.

  That was all Swayman needed to start throwing blockers at Gallagher’s head as best he could.

• Big scrum in front of the Bruins net and Swayman is at the center of the fireworks 🎆 pic.twitter.com/Od74FKTZoY

  — B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) November 12, 2023

• Outright laughing at Gallagher as he popped back to his feet while Gallagher tried to fight off the multiple Bruins coming at him for touching their goaltender, a helmet-less Swayman then reached down to grab it, and then did a 200-foot gaze the other way with a look towards Montembeault.

  Swayman stared him down and threw his hands up, by all means challenging the Montreal netminder to come down and join the party.

• Jeremy Swayman vs. Sam Montembeault? pic.twitter.com/iVK8yGI6QP

  — Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) November 12, 2023

• Holding court with reporters after the game, Swayman said that his gesture to Montembeault was “just letting him know he was there.” Or, in other words, Swayman truly wanted that smoke. Montembeault, perhaps realizing that he had nothing to do with any of that noise, understandably did not.

  This was not Swayman’s first run-in with an irritating forward this year, as the 24-year-old also had a slight issue with the Blackhawks’ Corey Perry when the B’s and Blackhawks met in Chicago last month. Swayman also threw a sliding shove at Stars captain Jamie Benn when the teams linked up in Dallas last Monday.

  (Has this man been watching Timmy Thomas highlights?)

  As for the run-in with Gallagher, Swayman called it a simple scrum that “happens 10 times a night.” Gallagher, meanwhile, opted not to reveal any of the details, and told reporters to “buy his book in 10 years.”

• Swayman was just about the only thing the Bruins had going for them in what was a sleepy-looking loss to the Canadiens, really, as he finished with 24 saves in the losing effort.

  With the loss, Swayman dropped to 6-0-1 on the campaign, while his save percentage dipped from .952 to .942.

  But one thing’s for sure: His compete was there. In every sense of the word, too.

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