These are the games for which Jeremy Swayman gets paid $8.25 million. On the road, primetime Saturday night, against a division rival that the Bruins were tied with for the first wild card spot.
In Boston's biggest game of the season, Swayman delivered a marquee performance, stopping 41 of the 43 shots he faced to lead the Bruins to a 4-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings.
Because they won in regulation, the Bruins now have a two-point lead over the Wings for the top wild card spot, and a three-point lead over the ninth-place New York Islanders. They are tied with the Montreal Canadiens for third in the Atlantic Division, although the Habs do have a game in hand.
The pivotal stretch in this game came over a five-minute stretch in the third period after Detroit went up 2-1. Elias Lindholm tied the game two minutes later, beating John Gibson five-hole on a shot Gibson probably should've saved. But then a Jonathan Aspirot tripping penalty sent the Wings to the power play, giving them an opportunity to get the momentum back.
Swayman made sure that didn't happen, coming up with four huge saves on the Detroit power play. He somehow gloved a Moritz Seider shot through heavy traffic. He robbed Alex DeBrincat on a great chance from the slot. He kicked away a point-blank chance from J.T. Compher.
Just 31 seconds after the Bruins completed the kill, Nikita Zadorov scored on a long, unscreened shot off the rush, the second goal in just over three minutes that Gibson should've stopped. Just like that, the Bruins led 3-2.
A few minutes after that, the Wings pinned the Bruins in their own zone for nearly two minutes. The stressed Boston defense finally cracked and left Emmitt Finnie all alone in front, but Swayman committed yet another highway robbery. The Bruins finally got some breathing room when David Pastrnak set up Marat Khusnutdinov for an empty-net goal.
The difference could not have been more stark. At one end of the rink, there was Gibson getting beat on two of the five shots he faced in the third period, neither of them a particularly great scoring chance. At the other end, there was Swayman standing on his head and carrying his team to victory, making 21 saves in the third period alone.
"Every point is so crucial right now, and it's fun to play in these kind of games," Swayman told ESPN's Emily Kaplan after the win. "We're ramping up for something special. It's one game at a time, and really happy with the result tonight."
According to MoneyPuck, Swayman saved 2.35 goals above expected, while Gibson surrendered 0.86 goals more than expected. That is more than a three-goal swing between the pipes.
And that is what Swayman has been doing all year. He is third in goals saved above expected on the season at plus-24.8, right behind Ilya Sorokin of the New York Islanders (+25.7). Washington's Logan Thompson is first at plus-28.8.
Swayman has been at his best during this stretch run post-Olympics. He has started nine of the Bruins' 13 games, and is now 6-2-1 with a .930 save percentage in those starts. He's up to 28 wins on the season, tied for fourth in the NHL.
Sorokin and Tampa Bay's Andrei Vasilevskiy remain clear betting favorites for the Vezina Trophy ahead of Swayman, who remains a distant third at +2200 on some sportsbooks. But make no mistake: Swayman's Vezina case is getting stronger by the performance at this point, and Saturday night was his strongest argument yet. This race isn't over.
Neither is the playoff race. There is still no guarantee the Bruins make it with now just 12 games remaining, but they took a giant step towards doing so Saturday night, thanks in large part to Swayman.