The playoff goalie rotation is officially on for the Bruins

When the Bruins hit the ice for pregame warmups Monday night at TD Garden, it was Linus Ullmark leading the way. He is Boston's Game 2 starter against the Maple Leafs.

The playoff goalie rotation is officially on. The Bruins are indeed going to attempt to buck tradition and convention, opting against riding the hot hand in favor of sticking with the rotation that has served them so well in the last two regular seasons.

The decision could not have been an easy one given how well Jeremy Swayman played in Game 1, and how well he has played against Toronto all season. Swayman stopped 35 of the 36 shots he faced in Saturday's 5-1 win, improving to 4-0-0 with a .962 save percentage against the Leafs this season.

All of that would have made starting Swayman again in Game 2 a completely justifiable decision. But committing to the rotation, at least to start the playoffs, is also justifiable.

The Bruins had the best goaltending in terms of team save percentage last season, and ranked third this year behind only the Winnipeg Jets and Florida Panthers. The vast majority of that success has come with Swayman and Ullmark alternating stats.

In fact, the last time either goalie started two games in a row was two months ago. The Bruins adhered to a strict rotation for the final 26 games of the regular season, despite Montgomery suggesting at various points that he might want to give one or the other consecutive starts at some point leading up to the playoffs.

The fact that he didn't was probably the biggest tip-off that rotating in the playoffs was a real possibility. Asked in Montreal on March 14 if he would do what he did last season – rotate until the end of the regular season and then ride one guy in the playoffs – Montgomery strongly hinted that he wouldn't do that again.

"We know if you go with a platoon the whole year, switching in and switching out, you can't expect one guy to ride the emotions of the playoffs by themselves," Montgomery said then.

Last year, the Bruins also rotated down the stretch in the regular season, but then they tried to ride Ullmark in the first round. He didn't hold up for the full series, and Montgomery ultimately made the uncomfortable decision to switch to a cold Swayman for Game 7.

It's possible Swayman would prove more capable of handling a workhorse role if the Bruins rode him in this series, but it seems that Montgomery is now a believer that the way to get the very best out of both goalies is to keep rotating.

If Ullmark plays well Monday, the rotation almost certainly continues. If Ullmark struggles, then turning things over to Swayman is a topic that will have to be revisited.