You just have to laugh at how good Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman has been this postseason. Fittingly, Swayman himself did just that at one point during Boston’s 5-1 Game 1 victory over the Florida Panthers Monday night.
It came early in the third period during a Panthers power play with the Bruins leading 3-1. Vladimir Tarasenko fired a pass to the slot for a charging Evan Rodrigues, who redirected it right on goal, only to have Swayman make yet another point-blank stop.
The puck then pinballed around the crease for a couple seconds before Swayman eventually found it in a mass of bodies and covered up. Swayman proceeded to calmly toss the puck away, and then started laughing maniacally. Chaos all around him, and he’s just laughing.
The save was reflective of how unstoppable Swayman continues to be. He turned aside 38 of the 39 shots he faced Monday. That wasn’t even his best save of the night. That came in the first minute of the game, when he robbed Anton Lundell on a rebound chance with his right pad, simultaneously setting the tone for the night and putting to bed any concerns about his workload.
Swayman is now 5-2 this postseason with a ridiculous .955 save percentage and 1.42 goals-against average. Bruins coach Jim Montgomery acknowledged that he considered starting Linus Ullmark in Game 1 given that Swayman has now started six straight games for the first time in his career, but realistically there’s only one choice when you have a goalie rolling like this.
“We talked about it as a staff because of the emotional high of Game 7 and the travel,” Montgomery said. “We contemplated going with Ullmark because we have so much confidence in him, too. But when a guy is playing that well, it’s like, don’t outsmart yourself.”
The laugh was reflective of Swayman’s attitude, confidence and calmness. That’s what he projects onto the rest of the team. Montgomery has said on multiple occasions, including Monday night, that it “inspires” the bench.
Mason Lohrei, the Bruins’ rookie defenseman who is having a breakout postseason of his own, agrees with that assessment.
“It seems like you can never rattle the guy,” Lohrei said of Swayman. “He’s always smiling, always singing along to songs. It’s relaxing, at least for me. I mean, I see it and it kind of makes you remember it’s just a game. If he can go out there and play as well as he does and go have fun, it kind of lets you do the same.”
The Bruins are having fun right now, and Swayman is playing at a historically great level. He has allowed two goals or fewer in all seven of his starts this postseason, becoming just the eighth goalie in NHL history to start a playoff run with such a stretch.
Fun fact about that list above: The other seven goalies on it all at reached the Stanley Cup Final during those seasons, and the last three (Nikolai Khabibulin, Cam Ward and Jean-Sebastien Giguere) won it all.