Boston Bruins
“He is a winner. He exhibits it each time he is on the market.”
Jeremy Swayman’s baseline stats won’t essentially leap off the web page.
By way of 42 video games, Swayman sports activities a .906 save proportion. It’s a welcome enchancment from his lackluster numbers from the earlier season (.892).
However this 12 months, there are 16 certified goalies who sport a better save proportion than Swayman.
In fact, those self same netminders aren’t beneath the identical quantity of duress that Swayman is routinely put beneath by a retooling Bruins roster.
A number of issues have gone proper for the Bruins up to now in 2025-26.
Marco Sturm has mapped out a hard-nosed, bodily identification that his upstart roster has embraced.
Boston’s prime skills like Charlie McAvoy, David Pastrnak, and Morgan Geekie have produced, whereas the Bruins’ once-dormant energy play has roared again to life.
Youthful gamers like Fraser Minten, Jonathan Aspirot, and Marat Khusnutdinov have carved out key roles, whereas James Hagens might be buying and selling in his BC sweater for the spoked-B later this month. In whole, eight totally different gamers have tallied double-digit targets.
But it surely’s been the play in web from Swayman that has been the first purpose why Boston stays in a playoff spot as of Wednesday, regardless of boasting one of many league’s leakier defensive items.
And if the Bruins wish to solidify their spot within the postseason image over their last 18 common season video games, they’re going to want to depend on Swayman greater than ever to maintain them afloat.
”Pre [Olympics], Publish [Olympics], you identify it — he’s been excellent all 12 months lengthy,” Sturm stated of Swayman’s play after Boston’s 2-1 time beyond regulation win over the Kings on Tuesday. “I didn’t see something totally different. He’s been there on the key moments. And that’s what I really like about him.
“He’s in a superb temper, he’s in a great place. He got here house with the gold [medal]. Now he’s again at it, and he’s a winner. He exhibits it each time he’s on the market. I’m simply very comfortable together with his efficiency all 12 months lengthy, on and off the ice, too. He’s been wonderful.”
Swayman’s impression has been evident throughout Boston’s present 13-game win streak at TD Backyard.
For the reason that begin of 2026, Swayman has appeared in 9 video games on Causeway Avenue. He’s 9-0 in these video games, sporting a .939 save proportion over that stretch.
Although he didn’t face a heavy shot quantity on Tuesday towards the Kings (15 saves on 16 pictures), the Bruins’ No. 1 netminder nonetheless turned apart a number of important scoring probabilities — recording his eleventh victory this season in one-goal video games.
“It’s a group recreation,” Swayman stated. “Each single man on this group is doing their half to impression the sport in a constructive method, and it’s simply enjoyable to be a kind of guys.”
Regardless of Swayman’s team-centric outlook, his play has been the good equalizer for a roster vulnerable to coughing up Grade-A seems to be.
According to Natural Stat Trick, the Bruins are useless final within the NHL in anticipated targets towards per 60 minutes at 3.59 — a testomony to their propensity to surrender high quality scoring bids in entrance of their netminder.
Positive sufficient, solely the Islanders and cellar-dwelling Canucks have allowed extra high-danger scoring probabilities per 60 minutes than the Bruins (13.64).
Swayman’s .906 save proportion may appear pedestrian. However a glance beneath the hood highlights a goalie who’s bailing his group out on most nights.
Per MoneyPuck, Swayman ranks third within the NHL in targets saved above anticipated at 21.4, with solely the Islanders’ Ilya Sorokin (27.3) and Washington’s Logan Thompson (24.5) ranked above him.
In different phrases, Swayman’s efforts have taken over 20 potential targets off the board this season — a margin that will nearly certainly doom the Bruins’ playoff hopes had a lesser goalie let these Grade-A seems to be sail previous them and into twine.
”I really feel prefer it’s most nights, or each night time,” Casey Mittelstadt stated final week when requested of Swayman’s sturdy play. “So yeah, it offers the blokes in entrance of him plenty of confidence to know he’s again there. I feel the most important factor is he makes massive saves at massive instances. Very spectacular. We’re fortunate he’s on our aspect.”
A playoff spot remains to be removed from a assure for Sturm’s membership.
Getting into Wednesday night time, the Bruins stay within the second Wild Card spot within the Japanese Convention with a file of 36-22-6 (78 factors). They sit only one level behind the Pink Wings for the primary wild-card spot, whereas the Montreal Canadiens sit in third place within the Atlantic Division with 80 factors.
Nevertheless, Columbus is true behind Boston within the playoff race with 76 factors on the season.
Factors shall be at a premium down the stretch for the Bruins, who will play 11 of their last 18 video games away from TD Backyard.
The Bruins have tried to correctly allocate reps between Swayman and Joonas Korpisalo (23 video games) this season, limiting the situations wherein Swayman has been overtaxed amid a frantic regular-season slate.
However given the stakes at play at this stage of the NHL calendar — coupled with Korpisalo’s current struggles (.875 save proportion in his final 5 video games) — Sturm and the Bruins would possibly must lean closely on Swayman down the stretch as a way to punch their ticket again to the playoffs.
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