The Bruins’ goaltending hasn’t been horrible through five games, but it certainly hasn’t been great either.
Jeremy Swayman was great in an opening night win over the Stars, but then really struggled in a loss to the Flyers, playing his worst game as a pro so far.
Linus Ullmark got the next three starts after that. He was great in his first, stopping 35 of 36 shots in a win over the Sabres. But then he was mediocre, probably even below average, in the next two, allowing three goals on 26 shots in each.
Thursday night in Carolina, Swayman will be back in goal for his first start in a week, facing the 5-0-0 Hurricanes. And NESN analyst, WEEI contributor and former Bruins goalie Andrew Raycroft believes it will be the 22-year-old rookie’s toughest challenge yet.
“Swayman’s got a tough start tonight in Carolina. This is his toughest start of his career by far, having to play back-to-back on the road,” Raycroft said. “This is the first time that’s happened in his career, two games on the road back-to-back [for the team]. This is another team that’s undefeated. So this is a good test for Swayman. These are the game he’s going to have to perform in, have to find ways to win to be able to play more as the season goes on.”
Swayman did face some good teams in his 10 starts last season, including road games in Washington and Pittsburgh, but there was less pressure and expectations on him individually at that point. Add in the Bruins playing and losing last night, plus Swayman’s last start going so poorly, and there is more pressure for him to step up and pick his team up on a night when they might need a little something extra.
Taking a step back and looking at the Bruins’ goaltending situation as a whole, Raycroft said he sees Swayman and Ullmark as being in similar places right now and that neither has had a clear edge over the other so far.
“It’s such a small sample. I hate to be on the fence here, but they’re right at the same spot I think,” Raycroft said. “I think they’ve both played well enough. Neither one has stolen a game. They won the games they should’ve won. They’ve both lost games that the team probably should’ve lost, where they didn’t play as well as the other team. So I’m putting them right on the same level. I know we’re going to go back and forth on this week-to-week.”
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