Bruce Cassidy was probably hoping he didn’t have to answer these questions after Game 1 of the first round. Or, if he was asked them, that the answers would be easy.
But after the Bruins’ 5-1 loss to the Hurricanes Monday night, the questions about the goaltending were inevitable, and fair.
Do you feel like you could’ve gotten more from Linus Ullmark?
Do you plan to come back with Ullmark in Game 2?
Ullmark was not the only reason the Bruins lost, nor was he the biggest. The Bruins didn’t finish their chances offensively, the power play was poor, and there were a couple too many defensive mistakes in front of the Boston netminder.
Ullmark, however, was not as good as he needed to be, either. There wasn’t a ton he could’ve done on Carolina’s first two goals, but the fourth -- a low-angle backhander that went off his helmet and in -- was definitely one he should have had. The third was a 2-on-1 that ended with a nice shot from Teuvo Teravainen, but Ullmark also stumbled as he tried to get across his crease and probably could’ve done better.
While making it clear that he wasn’t pinning the loss on Ullmark, Cassidy also said that the Bruins did need a couple more saves.
“Well, you need the saves in the end when you’re not scoring. Let’s call it what it is,” Cassidy said. “The 2-on-1 is a great play by them. They executed it. You don’t want to be in that position, so it’s a great shot. The last goal, would it have mattered? Short-side… he’s gonna tell you it’s not a great goal to give up. But by then it’s 4-1, so we’re not gonna put anything on Ullmark.”
The Hurricanes’ first two goals both came with traffic in front on shots from out high. The first was a nice deflection from Seth Jarvis, while the second was a shot from Nino Niederreiter that founds its way through a handful of bodies and past Ullmark.
Stopping either would have been tough, but this is the way the Hurricanes play when they’re able to possess the puck in the offensive zone. They get a lot of bodies to the net, and whoever’s in there has to be able to fight through at least some of it.
“Whatever goalie’s in there for us, you have to fight to find pucks in this series,” Cassidy said. “It’s the same at the other end early on. I thought [Antti] Raanta was fighting to find them. There were some rebounds there, we just didn’t capitalize. … We’ll have to do a better job in lanes, and Linus will have to work harder to find it as well. That’s just the hand he’s gonna be dealt. They’ve got some big bodies that camp themselves out front, so that’s gonna be the challenge for any goalie.”
So, is Cassidy sticking with Ullmark for Wednesday’s Game 2? Or is he thinking about turning to Jeremy Swayman?
“We’ll let you know [Tuesday],” he told reporters. “Like I said, I’m not faulting our goaltender for this. We had some opportunities we need to finish as well, like they did.”
In past years, going away from Tuukka Rask after a game like Monday would have never been considered. It would have been chalked up as a slightly off night, and because of Rask’s resume, he would have been back in the next game without a second thought.
But the reason it becomes a valid question now is because we simply don’t know exactly what the Bruins’ approach to this year’s goaltending situation is or will be. Ullmark is not Rask in terms of playoff experience or handling a full-time No. 1 role for the postseason. Cassidy has said on numerous occasions that the team is open to the idea of using both Ullmark and Swayman this postseason.
The question we still don’t know the answer to is: What would it take to trigger the switch from one to the other? Would a performance like Monday’s -- OK but not quite good enough -- be enough to turn to Swayman? Or has Ullmark earned a longer leash than that with how well he played down the stretch?
Guess we’ll find out Tuesday.
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