Did Bruins make improper name beginning Swayman once more vs. Canucks?

Boston Bruins

“It was an enormous recreation for us, and we thought he would give us the very best probability.”

Just a few days after harping on a few of the silver linings drawn out of a regulation loss to the Oilers, Marco Sturm wasn’t following the identical script after Boston secured not less than a degree within the standings towards the Canucks. 

“These little particular person errors, I’d say, simply value us one other level right here,” Sturm mentioned on NESN. “First interval was actually good, however once more, some guys — [it was] in all probability certainly one of their worst video games of the yr. And yeah, sadly, simply value us a degree.”

Incomes not less than a degree received’t assuage the frustrations felt by the Bruins after a 5-4 shootout loss to the Canucks — a recreation the place Boston largely managed play and held a 42-22 edge in pictures on objective and coughed up a one-goal lead within the third interval of play.

Boston entered Saturday with a report of 20-2-0 when main after 40 minutes. However a number of crucial lapses and an lack of ability to place away a pesky Canucks workforce proved expensive in Boston’s second-straight loss.

“Looks like it was a bizarre recreation,” Mark Kastelic mentioned. “It felt like identical to any mistake we made, they capitalized on and that’s the unlucky half.  Simply issues we have to clear up within the third is simply attempting to restrict the psychological breakdown. … It’s positively disappointing. This felt like a recreation we should always have positively had, however nothing we are able to do about it anymore.”

There have been a number of squandered probabilities for Boston to show Saturday’s matchup right into a “get-right” win after Thursday’s setback towards Edmonton. 

Two failed power-play bids that would have manufactured some respiration room for Boston went for nought, with Linus Karlsson tying the sport, 3-3, simply 38 seconds after the Bruins’ remaining probability on the person benefit expired within the third interval.

There was Boston’s lack of ability to pepper a puck previous Kevin Lankinen regardless of producing six pictures throughout the five-minute time beyond regulation, whereas Sturm’s alternative of individuals in a seven-round shootout additionally loomed massive.

However even with Jeremy Swayman turning apart the primary six makes an attempt that got here his approach in Saturday’s shootout, the choice to roll with Swayman towards the Canucks was a little bit of a curious alternative. 

Whereas Swayman holds court docket as Boston’s No. 1 netminder, Saturday marked the fourth-straight recreation that the 27-year-old goalie earned the nod between the pipes. 

And in a recreation the place the Bruins largely dictated play towards the Canucks, a well timed save or two from Swayman in regulation would have possible been the distinction — with Swayman knocked for a .818 save proportion (18 saves on 22 pictures) en path to his second loss in a row. 

Swayman hasn’t been repeatedly tasked with logging four-straight begins throughout his tenure with the Bruins, particularly throughout the years the place he cut up the online with Linus Ullmark. 

He’s largely fared higher this yr when given a little bit of an extended leash by Sturm — recording a career-best 44 saves earlier this season when handed a third-consecutive begin towards the Islanders on Nov. 26. 

However Saturday had Swayman working in additional uncharted waters with reference to his workload, with Sturm turning to him as soon as once more as a substitute of backup Joonas Korpisalo.

“It was an enormous recreation for us, and we thought he would give us the very best probability,” Sturm mentioned postgame of rolling with Swayman as soon as once more.

The Bruins’ compressed scheduled forward of the vacation break isn’t doing Boston any favors by way of managing reps, whereas it was all however a provided that Swayman and Korpisalo had been going to separate begins this weekend forward of a back-to-back slate towards the Canucks and Senators. 

However the name to stay with Swayman as a substitute of prescribing him an evening off earlier than a key divisional bout towards Ottawa on Sunday does increase some eyebrows. 

Granted, Swayman hasn’t been sharp in his profession towards the Senators — posting a 4-4-3 report and an .888 save proportion towards 11 outings towards them.

Holding out Swayman on Sunday additionally offers Boston the chance to have a rested Swayman prepared for an anticipated house matchup towards the Montreal Canadiens on Dec. 23. 

Nonetheless, the Bruins and Sturm would possibly must know when to chop their losses so far as pushing Swayman’s reps past his common allotment over the grind of an 82-game season — particularly amid this frantic tempo throughout an Olympics yr.

 

Conor Ryan is a employees author protecting the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Crimson Sox for Boston.com, a job he has held since 2023.