Jeremy Swayman was terrific the entire month of November. Unfortunately for the Bruins, that did not carry over to his first start of December.
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Swayman gave up five goals on 23 shots before getting pulled early in the third period of Boston’s 5-4 loss to the Detroit Red Wings Tuesday night. It was the first time this season that coach Marco Sturm has pulled either Bruins goalie from a start.
Swayman looked slightly off on the Wings’ opening goal, as former Bruin James van Riemsdyk beat him over the glove on the rush. He never really found a way to get “on” the rest of the night.
He couldn’t do anything about Detroit’s second goal, but the third was an Alex DeBrincat shot that squeaked under his right arm and trickled over the line. On the fifth, he appeared to get distracted by some stick-fighting with Dylan Larkin and got stuck in place as Lucas Raymond buried a one-timer into a vacant cage.
“I wanted to give a little bit of life maybe to the group,” Sturm said of the decision to yank Swayman. “Sway was so good. It was almost not fair the way we played in front of him. We kind of left him alone a little bit. Yeah, he could have maybe saved one or two, but he’s been so good. Just wanted to change it up a little bit and maybe give a little bit of a spark to the team.”
Sturm is right that Swayman was not the only Bruin who had an off night. Andrew Peeke let van Riemsdyk sneak behind him on the first goal, and was ultimately on the ice for all five goals against in what was easily his worst game of the season.
Casey Mittelstadt committed a neutral-zone turnover and Viktor Arvidsson, back in the lineup for the first time since Nov. 15, missed his defensive-zone assignment on the second. Peeke and Hampus Lindholm both misplayed the puck right before the third. On the fourth, the Bruins’ rush defense backed off too much and Morgan Geekie lost Ben Chiarot on the backcheck.
Even with all that, the Bruins didn’t just roll over and go down without a fight. They cut a 3-0 deficit to 3-2 in the second period. After then giving up two more, they still pushed in the third period and pulled within two with 5:03 remaining. But they couldn’t pull within one until there were just 12 seconds left in the game.
There were some positive individual moments. Alex Steeves scored twice and now has four goals in his last four games as he continues to take advantage of his opportunity. Jonathan Aspirot scored his first NHL goal, and Tanner Jeannot made a great play on the forecheck to set it up. Marat Khusnutdinov notched his first goal and point in eight games. Joonas Korpisalo made a few really good saves after replacing Swayman, which could give him some positive momentum if he gets the start Thursday against the St. Louis Blues.
But ultimately, the positives were too little, too late. It’s a credit to the Bruins that they kept battling, but it also makes you wonder if this game could have gone differently if Swayman was just a little better, or the defense was just a little better, or they started just a little better.
“It’s stuff we talked about before the game,” Sturm said. “We knew they were gonna come out hard, the way the last game ended. Especially our breakouts, our D, the gaps, we just were not sharp in the first period, and unfortunately we got behind two goals.”
So, the Bruins will be looking for another bounce-back on Thursday, as they’ve now alternated losses and wins for the last seven games. That game will come against the Blues and Jim Montgomery, who will return to TD Garden for the first time since the Bruins fired him last November.
The Bruins may need to make yet another call-up before then, as defenseman Mike Callahan left Tuesday’s game in the first period with a lower-body injury and did not return. The Bruins were already without Charlie McAvoy, Henri Jokiharju and Jordan Harris on the back end, and were carrying just six defensemen on their roster Tuesday. Options in Providence would include Frederic Brunet, Victor Soderstrom and Billy Sweezey.
David Pastrnak is expected to remain out as well, with Sturm telling reporters on Tuesday that he does not anticipate Pastrnak skating at all this week.