By: Ellie Man | Follow me on Twitter/X @ellieyym
Jeremy “Bulldog” Swayman has been an anchor for the Boston Bruins. The 6’3”, 195-pound goaltender registered 31 game wins and posted a 2.71 GAA and .908 SV% during the regular season, and has continued these efforts into the playoffs to keep the team’s championship dreams alive.
With a 2.87 GAA and .910 SV% in the postseason, Swayman has started every game against the Buffalo Sabres and proven his resilience against their speed and tenacity. He holds a record of two wins and three losses this series, and boasts experience of playing 25 playoff games with 11 wins.
Game four of this tense series witnessed a painful loss on home ice, with the Sabres claiming a 6-1 victory. This includes four goals tallied in the first period. But each of these shots was the direct result of bad turnovers and communication lapses.
A victim of his own team’s blundering defense, Swayman was eventually pulled in the third period, having made 29 saves and let in six goals. Joonas Korpisalo took to the net for the rest of the game, making his debut in these playoffs and blocking the Sabres’ remaining six attempts. When returning to the bench, the Alaskan let his team have it, noticeably and deservedly angry at the other players.
With 40 seconds left in the final period, Sean Kuraly managed to score a shorthanded goal to prevent a shutout, but the effort was too little and much too late. Swayman had already been hung out to dry, and many fans in the home crowd had left long before the puck finally made its way past Alex Lyon.
Speaking to the media after the abysmal defeat, the goaltender said: “We have an extremely high-competitive group, and we all have a standard that we all carry ourselves to and it wasn’t met. […] You definitely pick and choose times that especially a goalie can show emotion, but at the same time again, we win as a team and we lose as a team, and everyone in here has a standard that we know we’re capable of and I think that’s what really is the underlying cause here, and again, we know we have a job to do. We know we can compete at an extremely high level and that’s what we’re going to do.”
Swayman’s reflection of the team was an honest evaluation. The .793 SV% from game four is an unfortunate stain on the goalie’s record, with all his other performances in the playoffs being consistent at .919 or higher.
With the whole team repeatedly calling their gameplay “embarrassing”, the Bruins needed to bring back discipline, both for their championship chances and their pride. Game five saw a surge in effort as the Bruins recorded more shots on goal than the Sabres for the first time in this series at 29 against 26. This push allowed David Pastrňák to capitalize on a breakaway and score an overtime win, bringing new life back to Boston.
Swayman continued to show impressive form throughout the high-stakes game, not giving in to pressure with the Sabers needing just one more win to advance into the second round. Alongside facing repeated taunts and jabs from the competition, Swayman maintained his composure to make some big saves when it mattered most – a feat that he has delivered whenever the Bruins have needed him.
Following the game, the goalie commented, “We stepped up in big moments and played with raw emotion, and the guys were selling out their bodies and really understanding that every play was important, and I thought that was pretty contagious throughout the whole night.” A stark contrast from the rough performance before.
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