Swayman or Ullmark in net for Game 4?
Montgomery not tipping his hand
TORONTO >> The Bruins entered the playoffs believing goaltending is the team’s strength. And in the first round, they haven’t been wrong.
And yet, all of a sudden, the goalie rotation question is back on the table.
That is not to say that Linus Ullmark was bad in Game 2, a 3-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Garden. Far from it. He faced 10 high danger chances, according to Natural Stat Trick, and made a number of Grade A saves to keep the B’s in a game in which they did not play very well.
But then there’s Jeremy Swayman’s 5-0 record against the Leafs, including both playoff games he’s played in. In the B’s 4-2 win on Wednesday at Scotiabank Arena, he stopped 28 of 30 shots, including 13 in the third period to preserve the win.
There’s also the fact the teams have two days off before they get back at it for Game 4 on Saturday night. Would that color Montgomery’s thinking with regard to the rotation and maybe ride the hot hand?
“Yeah, I mean, we’re going to have more rest,” said Montgomery at the team hotel on Thursday morning. “But both goalies, the rotation’s been so good for us. It’s a hard decision.”
So no, the coach is not about to show his hand on the goalie rotation. Any competitive edge that he can glean from the situation, he’s rightly going to hang on to that.
But when asked if Swayman just “had the Leafs’ number,” he took the opportunity to take a shot at one of Toronto’s agitators much like Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe did with Brad Marchand after Game 3.
“Sometimes I don’t think that, but when (Max) Domi goes off the bench and bumps him on purpose makes me think he’s in their head a little bit,” said Montgomery.
That incident happened during a TV timeout and it wasn’t a big shove, but it was enough to knock Swayman off balance (“I’ve got to do more push-ups,” joked Swayman with ESPN after the game) and it drew the ire of Pat Maroon, who barked at the Leaf and made sure everyone on the B’s bench knew about what he’d seen.
“Those are things in the game that you don’t really want to allow happen and we’re not going to let them push us around in that regard,” said Brandon Carlo. “You could see it on the bench with Patty Maroon. I didn’t see it. He was making sure that everyone had known that Domi had done that and from there you just try and get your licks throughout the game. And if the opportunity arises in different scenarios, you can look at that. But we want to stay calm and play our best hockey between whistles.”
To Montgomery, something like Domi’s shenanigans would only fire up Swayman even more.
“If anyone is as close to (Marchand) on our team in competitive fire, it’s him,” said Montgomery.
Carlo added Swayman has a unique personality.
“He’s incredible to combine that competitiveness with calmness and the fun that he has on the ice,” said Carlo. “I think it was like seven minutes left in the third and he’s coming back to the bench, high-stress time, obviously. And he’s coming back dancing to the music a little bit. He keeps it light. I love how much he enjoys the game. It reminds us all to just have fun and play the game as well. When you have a guy like that behind you, it definitely gives you more confidence knowing he’s as confident as he is.”
But, to be clear, Carlo was not advocating for one goalie over another. The netminders have alternated all season and the skaters seem to be as comfortable with the rotation as the goalies have been.
“They’re comfortable in that environment of playing every other game and we are beyond fortunate to have both of those guys behind us, especially form a defensive guy like myself,” said Carlo. “They make my job a lot easier and we have the utmost faith in both of them.”
So the guessing game continues. And the Bruins seem to like it that way.
Silence golden
Trent Frederic scored the biggest goal of his career to this point when the tied Game 3 at 1-1 late in the second period, but he didn’t get a lot of immediate love for it. Like most of the people in the rink, his teammates seemed to be caught up in the ongoing beef between Marchand and Tyler Bertuzzi.
“It was really weird. I was trying to tell the guys that we scored because I don’t think anyone really knew. It was kind of a weird play, but I’m glad it all kind of unraveled like that,” said Frederic with a smile. “Normally you get a reaction from your teammates and the crowd a little and I don’t think anyone was watching. It was kind of funny.”
It’s not the first time Frederic scored a goal that was met with silence.
“My first NHL goal was in Lake Tahoe (during the pandemic) and we didn’t have fans, so it was kind of similar to that. I was like ‘That went in, but nobody’s really reacting.’ ”…
Kudos to Sacco
The B’s went into the game without one of their top penalty killers in Andrew Peeke, out week-toweek with an apparent foot injury he suffered in Game 2. But the PK stepped up, killing five of five penalties.
“Yeah, that is a big loss, first and foremost. Peeker stepped in really well for us and played very good and we’re going to miss him down the stretch here. Overall, we’re not trying to do anything extravagant out there,” said Carlo. “There have been times where we’ve been trying to make better pressure reads to push the puck out their hands. At times it’s worked and then at other times, they’ll make some plays and Sway’s come up large for us.”
Montgomery gave kudos to assistant coach Joe Sacco, who runs the PK. The B’s have killed 10 of 11 penalties.
“Joe Sacco, for years, has done an incredible job on our penalty kill and he has a great plan,” said Montgomery. “It’s very rare where he shows me the plan and I’m like ‘well, maybe we should do this.’ It makes sense and it’s clear and concise and the players do it.”
Whether he will or not, Sacco should get some consideration for some of the head coaching vacancies. We’ll see.
Major headache
According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, William Nylander’s absence in the series can be traced to a problem the 40-goal scorer has been having with migraines. Nylander has missed the first three games of the series but has been skating and there’s hope he’ll be available for Game 4.