Bruins’ Jim Montgomery Pushes Back On Jeremy Swayman Narrative

Jim Montgomery does not believe the reason the Florida Panthers scored four goals on Jeremy Swayman in Game 2 is because the Boston Bruins goaltender has been overworked this postseason.

Montgomery, who pulled Swayman less than two minutes into the third period, pushed back on that narrative after Boston’s eventual 6-1 loss at Amerant Bank Arena on Wednesday night.

“No, the workload hasn’t played into Jeremy Swayman,” Montgomery told reporters, as seen on NESN. “The workload played into our effort tonight. We didn’t have juice tonight.”

Montgomery said he thought Swayman was “terrific.” Swayman finished with 19 saves on 23 shots in 41:28 of ice time.

Swayman has started eight of Boston’s nine playoff games after a regular season where he rotated with netminder Linus Ullmark. The reason Swayman has taken over as the night-in-night-out goaltender is because of his play throughout the Stanley Cup playoff run — he entered Wednesday with a .955 save percentage this postseason.

Swayman isn’t putting much thought into the increased workload either. He told reporters after the loss in Sunrise, Fla., that he’s taking it one game at a time and his body feels “great.”

Swayman also revealed he had a quick chat with Montgomery after he was pulled with 18 minutes left and the Black and Gold facing a 4-1 deficit. Swayman indicated he understood the decision, and said he has full trust in Montgomery.

Swayman and his Bruins teammates turned the page immediately after the loss. They’re looking forward to returning to TD Garden for Game 3 of their best-of-seven series. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET on Friday night, and you can catch pregame coverage on NESN+ at 6 p.m.