The Boston Bruins have lived by a goalie rotation system for the last two seasons, and it worked. The duo of Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman carried the team to the best regular season in NHL history in 2022-23. They followed that up with a second-place finish in the Atlantic Division in 2023-24 that exceeded preseason expectations. They need to revert back to that system now if they want to push for a Stanley Cup.
Goaltending Lessons From Last Postseason
Last postseason, the Bruins benched Swayman in favor of Ullmark until Game 7 of their first-round series against the Florida Panthers. By then, their 1B netminder had not seen the ice in over two weeks, and it was too late. Swayman came up one save short, and the Bruins lost in overtime to exit the playoffs. Ullmark did not play poorly throughout the series, but more than once, he did not look like the season’s Vezina Trophy winner.
Fans and analysts had called for Swayman to appear earlier in the series. Ullmark, however, was the hot hand and the better of the two during the regular season. While the roles are reversed in 2023-24, with Swayman carrying the weight for most of round one and into round two, the same lesson applies: Ullmark and Swayman are dominant because they don’t have to bear all the workload, like Juuse Saros or Alexander Georgiev.
2024 NHL Playoffs
There is no denying that Swayman was unbelievable in Round 1, and his stellar play continued into Game 1 of Round 2 against the same Panthers. His performance against the Toronto Maple Leafs was as good as any we’ve seen in recent years, and if it had been anyone else in net, the Bruins’ season might be over.
The Alaskan netminder went seven consecutive games allowing two goals or fewer, and he did it in style, making several highlight-reel saves along the way. Even if the Bruins can’t move past the Panthers, their fans will remember his performance against the Maple Leafs. That said, his magical run was stymied by the Panthers in Game 2 on Wednesday night. He allowed three goals in the second period after blanking them in the first frame – the third came with less than a second left on the clock. He was pulled after allowing a fourth goal to start the third.
Related: Bruins’ Swayman Had MVP Performance in First Round
I am not saying that these goals were expressly Swayman’s fault because they weren’t. The team in front of him played their worst game of the postseason, committing several careless turnovers. That said, their netminder was not as good as he was in games past. For the Bruins to win, they will need both goaltenders to stand on their heads, as they are not as deep or as explosive offensively as the Panthers. It would be unfair to expect Swayman, who is used to playing directionally every four days, to take the ice every other night for the rest of the playoffs and be at his best.
Bruins Goaltending Solution: Rotate
Fortunately, the Bruins have another Vezina-caliber goalie who can give them a lights-out performance on any given night. Rather than expect Swayman to carry an unprecedented workload and hope he can withstand the wear and tear of a long postseason run, the Bruins should rely on their proven strategy of rotating between their two all-world netminders and give Ullmark some starts.
Riding the hot hand worked in the first round, but if the team hopes to win the Stanley Cup, they have to win 11 more games, more than double the number they have won so far. They should reset in Game 3 and give the net to Ullmark, who has a spectacular 7-0-0 record this season with a 0.937 save percentage (SV%) when starting games after seven or more days of rest. From there, they should continue to rotate the two and ride the hot hand as needed, but they should not be quick to hand the net to either for good.
