Jim Montgomery might have tipped his hand on Friday when he was asked about the starting Bruins goaltender for Game 4 on Saturday night.
The B’s bench boss confirmed that they knew the starter’s identity at this point and that it was part of a predetermined plan.
“We’re going to have more rest, but the rotation’s been so good for us,” said Montgomery, referencing the two days off between Game 3 and Game 4 in Toronto. “You know, it’s a hard decision.”
It very well could be that the Bruins decided beforehand to strictly alternate their goalie rotation for the first four games with Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark, and that would leave Ullmark as the starter for Game 4 with the B’s up 2-to-1 in the best-of-seven series based on two brilliant, winning performances from Swayman in Game 1 and Game 3. But it feels like that would be a mistake given where we are in the series with Boston sitting on a chance to win again in Toronto and put a stranglehold on what’s already been a very competitive first-round series against the Maple Leafs.
The right move is to ditch the goaltender rotation and tap the red-hot Swayman as the starting goalie for Saturday night’s Game 4 at Scotiabank Arena. Swayman leads all NHL goalies in the Stanley Cup playoffs with a 1.51 goals against average and .955 save percentage as the top performer in the pipes thus far this postseason.
Beyond that, Swayman is now 5-0-0 this season against the Maple Leafs and has thoroughly baffled them with his mastery between the pipes. It’s not a stretch at this point to say that Swayman is in the heads of the Leafs a little bit even as they’re looking for a spark with a possible return of William Nylander to the lineup this weekend.
It wasn’t even something that the Bruins might have brought up until they saw Max Domi trying to bump Swayman during a stoppage in play when the Bruins goaltender was headed back to the Boston bench.
Max Domi skates into Jeremy Swayman and Pat Maroon is not pleased. pic.twitter.com/gljd3XDhnR
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) April 25, 2024
"Normally, I don't think that [a goalie has a hold on an opposing team]," said Montgomery earlier this week after Game 3. "But when Domi goes off the bench and bumps [Swayman] on purpose, makes me think that maybe he's in their head a little bit."
Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said his team has “zero frustration” offensively, but the simple truth is that Toronto doesn’t score enough goals in the playoffs. They have averaged two goals per game during this first round series against the Black and Gold and have not scored more than three goals in a postseason game in their last 10 outings that go back several years with the same “core four” group of players.
Keefe also tried to deny that Swayman is in their heads in any way while referencing Domi going out of his way to get in Swayman’s kitchen.
"It's playoff hockey, and things are happening all over the ice," said Keefe. "With that logic [from Montgomery] you would say every time they bump into one of our guys maybe we're in their heads"
One thing is for sure: Swayman is chomping at the bit to keep playing after starting off so dominantly in the opening part of this first round series against Toronto.
“Any time I get a chance to play, I’m going to do everything I can to help this team win,” said Swayman. “I don’t want rest. I just want to keep playing no matter if it’s back-to-back or every other game.”
The Bruins should pretty obviously want the same thing right now. There’s no doubt that Swayman may cool off at some point, or he may not be quite as dominant against some other opponent should they advance to later rounds in this postseason run.
That would be the time to rely a little more heavily on Ullmark and give him his chance to go on a bit of a run, but right now the best thing for the Black and Gold’s playoff hopes would be to ride the hot Swayman for as long as he can throw up zeroes against the Leafs explosive offense. To go away from that would be a big-time mistake for a hockey club currently holding the upper hand in their first round series against the Leafs.