SWAYMAN GETS NOD IN NET FOR B’S
Rookie made first NHL start last night in Philly
Down both their top two veteran goalies and in the midst of a brutally tough schedule, the Bruins had little choice but to give their highly-touted goaltending prospect JEremy Swayman his NHL debut Tuesday in Philadelphia against the Flyers.
The University of Maine product, who won the Mike Richter Award last season as the top goalie in the NCAA, has posted an 8-1 record with a .933 save percentage and 1.89 goals against average in Providence.
Meanwhile, Jaroslav Halak was not able to travel with the team to Philly because he’s on the COVID protocols list (he remained there as Tuesday at 5 p.m.) and Tuukka Rask has returned to the ice for practice but it’s not clear when he’ll be able to return after suffering an apparent back injury. He’s played one period in a month.
And so, in the Year of the Youth for the B’s, they turn to Swayman, their fourth round pick from 2017.
“You’re going to get your first game sooner or later, so here we are in the middle of a busy week. And he knows he might go right back in there if Tuukka and Jaro aren’t ready,” said coach Bruce Cassidy. “I don’t think he’s thinking too far ahead about that. He’s thinking about making his first save and the next save after that. I think every kid’s dreamed about this opportunity and he’s getting his. He’s played well in Providence in condensed schedule as well down there. But he’s gotten some good reps, gotten some game situations and he’s been up here for practice and hopefully he’s up to the task.”
With the uncertainty of the veterans’ availability, and with
Daniel Vladar having played on Monday, Cassidy said the decision was made to simply continue on the cluB’s path of splitting up the Back-to-Back games.
Cassidy admits he knows Swayman’s impressive resume But not much more.
“I think technically, he’s a very sound goaltender. He’s active in there, very competitive. But I haven’t seen much. I’m not going to lie,” said Cassidy. “The games in Providence, we get some clips of certain players that may come up or certain things they may Be of interest and you may watch some of those afternoon games after our practice. But at the end of the day, that’s the goalie department’s call on who’s where in their game and what’s required. Bob (Essensa) and (goalie development coach) Mike Dunham do a good job in that. So for me, he’s going in there, he’s had a really good resume in college, obviously, and he’s been played really well in Providence. I think we’re the type of team that plays with good layers in front of our goaltender, so we’re not typically asking our goalie to go out and win us games. It’s not a run-andgun for us. So do your job. Hopefully, if there are some good chances, we clear the second one. That’s how we’re structured defensively. We understand that this is his first start, so hopefully the guys around him are talking to him and a little more dialed in with puck play details and talking, all the little things that a goalie’s not used to with players. We saw that with Danny against Buffalo in an exchange with the D (a miscue with Jakub Zboril that turned into a goal against). So those are the things you want to keep an eye on. As for stopping the puck, that’s just up to Sway to play to the best of his abilities and do what he’s done his whole life.”
McAvoy out, Miller in
The B’s announced just before warmups that defenseman Charlie McAvoy,
arguably the B’s most valuable player this year, would miss Tuesday’s game because of an upper body injury.
That news muted the cautious optimism of the return to the lineup of Kevan Miller. The rugged right shot defenseman has been out since Feb. 18, when it was believed that his ravaged knee, which underwent four surgeries after the kneecap was initially broken in Minnesota’s Xcel Center in 2019, just needed the maintenance of skipping the long trip to Lake Tahoe. It lingered, and lingered some more until he finally was able to get back on Tuesday. They will tread carefully from here on out.
“Not a lot of practice time for us, unfortunately for Kevan. Kevan’s been around for a while so he knows the ins and outs of the game in the National Hockey League,” said Cassidy.
“We were told (by the medical staff) it was going to be this week (for his return). We wouldn’t start him with back-to-backs. Their thinking is ‘ let’s not tax it too much right away. Let’s get him through some games and see where it leads.’ At the start of the year, we thought we were on a really good path to deal with it. Then all of a sudden it acted up. Then probably it took a while longer than everyone originally thought to get back to where it needed to be.
That’ll be the thinking going forward, that we’ll have to manage it between
Kevan and the medical staff. If he’s healthy, he’s in.
If not, then we go with the next guy.”
Wagner back in
Chris Wagner, who has played just two games since March 13, went back in the lineup. Part of the reason he was on the outside looking in was that the club wanted to look at some young players, part of it was that Wagner’s play had left the door open a crack. “His pace was off a little,” said Cassidy. “I think he was getting tracked down in the neutral zone and he wasn’t getting there on time to be physical. We talked about that. Some of that is being on your toes a little more, some of it is working on shortening your shifts, going full blast for shorter periods of times. If you get stuck out there a little longer, that’s going to affect everybody. Then the message is just go play your game. He’s a guy that can give us some energy." After being benched for most of the second period on Monday, Zach Senyshyn was the healthy scratch to make room for Wagner. You have to wonder if the 2015 first-round pick (15th overall) has run out of chances with the organization.
Tough break
When told that the UMass hockey team would be without four players for its Frozen Four appearance on Thursday, Cassidy reacted like most everyone else did.
“That sucks,” said Cassidy.
Yup.