The Boston Bruins entered the 2025-26 season with a lot of questions. Perhaps the biggest was whether Jeremy Swayman would bounce back in Year 2 of his eight-year mega-deal.
Well, as the Bruins reach the always-important Thanksgiving benchmark, Swayman is playing like one of the best goalies in the NHL.
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The latest evidence to back up that statement came Wednesday night in New York, when Swayman made a career-high 44 saves to lead the Bruins to a 3-1 win over the Islanders.
To state the obvious, this was a huge win for the Bruins. They went 1-2-0 on the West Coast portion of this cross-country road trip. There is a big difference between a 2-2 road trip and a 1-3 trip, so the Bruins needed to get two points by any means necessary.
Those means turned out to be terrific goaltending and some timely contributions from their bottom six. The Bruins did not have their A-game in this one. Morgan Geekie didn't score for once. David Pastrnak had an off night. Boston wound up getting outshot by a whopping 45-14 margin – a season high in shots allowed, and a season low in shots for.
The Bruins led 2-1 after two thanks to goals from Alex Steeves and Tanner Jeannot. They had been outshot 22-11 at that point in the game, but their team defense had done a good job keeping a lot of those shots to the outside.
It was in the third period that Swayman really got tested, as the Islanders outshot the Bruins 23-3 over the final 20 minutes. His biggest save probably came with 11:24 to go, when he kicked away a Kyle Palmieri one-timer from the slot to preserve the one-goal lead. Less than two minutes later, Steeves made it a two-goal lead with his second of the game, finishing off a nice feed from Fraser Minten for a shorthanded tally.
Swayman made sure the Islanders never got back within a goal, turning aside one shot after another down the stretch. According to MoneyPuck, he finished the night with 3.39 goals above expected. Swayman is up to 16.9 goals saved above expected on the season, which leads the NHL by a full two goals.
If you prefer more traditional stats, Swayman has those too. His 10 wins are tied for third in the NHL. His .915 save percentage is fourth-best among 44 goalies who have made at least eight starts. In the month of November, he is 7-2-0 with a .935 save percentage. He has not allowed more than three goals in any of those starts, and he has had a positive goals saved above expected in all nine.
In his last start of October, Swayman gave up seven goals in Ottawa in what was by far his worst outing of the season. Joonas Korpisalo got back-to-back starts right after that, and it seemed fair to wonder if this was trending towards more of an even platoon. A month later, coach Marco Sturm wishes he could give Swayman every start.
“He’s been excellent. He’s been so good,” Sturm said Wednesday morning. “It’s hard for me to keep him out of the net. He’s been rock solid. Mentally, you could see it. He’s just very, very into every game, and he gives us the best chance to win a hockey game.”
This is when the Bruins need it most, too. They’re banged up, with top defenseman Charlie McAvoy out and top-six forwards Casey Mittelstadt and Viktor Arvidsson still missing as well. Elias Lindholm just returned from injury on Sunday. The Bruins don’t have enough high-end talent to survive a stretch like this unless they get great goaltending.
Fortunately for them, that’s exactly what Swayman is giving them.