Following his benching on Monday, Swayman performed admirably.
Boston — The Boston Bruins were struggling greatly going into their game on Thursday.
The group had let up 17 goals in their previous three games while suffering defeats. After allowing six of them, Jeremy Swayman was replaced by Linus Ullmark on Monday night following two goals from the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Though the team as a whole had a chance to recover on Thursday night, Swayman in particular had a unique opportunity.
After being benched, the 25-year-old started on Thursday and attempted to turn around a poor start to the week. For Boston’s sake, he did not disappoint.
Swayman compiled a virtually flawless performance against the San Jose Sharks, stopping all 26 shots against him in a 3-0 win. The victory marked the netminder’s second shutout of the season.
Boston’s netminder decided to turn the tide for the Bruins, a squad that was in dire need of a win to turn the tide.
After the victory, Swayman told reporters, “It’s exactly what I wanted to do.” “Make sure I don’t let the puck enter the goal.” There’s still a lot to work on, though. I intend to utilize this as a driving force going ahead.
Coach Jim Montgomery of the Boston Bruins also gave Swayman praise.
I adore Jeremy’s response. It’s how I anticipated him to react,” Montgomery remarked following the victory. “He is a fighter. He is an opponent. You adore having him in the middle for that reason.
The goalie witnessed a change in his squad during a crucial second period in which they scored two goals, dominated the shot differential, and regained their aggression.
“I think the second period was a big indicator of that,” Swayman added. “Hitting guys. Keeping pucks deep in possession. Defense was blocking shots and boxing guys out, making my job easy. That’s what we do best is stick to our identity. That’s big for us moving forward.”
With a win to reset the group, Swayman knows that the Bruins can grow from the losses to start a new run of momentum.
Swayman stated, “The only reason we could overcome it is because we went through it.” That will be important going forward. The lads taking the initiative to play Bruins hockey in front of our supporters made me very happy. We should keep going since it’s a positive step for us.
On Saturday, the Bruins will try to keep up their momentum when they play the Maple Leafs in Toronto. 7 p.m. ET is when the puck drops. NESN will broadcast the game along with one hour of pregame programming.
