Bruins notebook: It’s Jeremy Swayman’s net for now

If you are looking for a silver lining in the Bruins’ 3-2 loss to Ottawa on Thursday – and, granted, even the most die-hard Pollyanna might need a magnifying glass for that endeavor – it would have to be the third period work put in by goalie Jeremy Swayman.

After Linus Ullmark left the game after the first period with suspected concussion symptoms, Swayman was victimized by a bad angle goal and then faced a lengthy 5-on-3 that produced both a two-man advantage goal and a 5-on-4 tally.

But with the B’s down by a goal in the third period, he had to be excellent to keep his teammates in the game, making two stops on Connor Brown breakaways and a third when Alex Formenton was all alone in front of the net. He stopped all nine shots he saw in the third.

“I think there’s some positives coming from that third,” said Swayman on Friday. “I thought we had a chance to win the game and I wanted to do whatever I could to help them. You give up three goals in the second and you want to make sure that, if they have the opportunity to score, I was doing my job to keep it a close game. It’s good to move off those positives and move forward.”

Swayman and the B’s could use some good vibes right now, for it will be the rookie’s net for the foreseeable future. Coach Bruce Cassidy said that Ullmark was well enough to come into the Warrior Ice Arena practice facility but he did not go on the ice. He termed the goalie day-to-day but, as we’ve seen with other injuries, these things can linger.

Swayman said nothing changes for him.

“My mindset stays the same. I want to play every night,” said Swayman. “I want to give this team a chance to win every night. Obviously, I hope he has a speed recovery. I know he will. I want to make sure I’m doing everything I can to help this team win games.”

Coming in cold, Swayman did not have a great second period. Aside from the three goals allowed, there were numerous rebounds that the Senators just could not reach. He said the challenge is that this late in season, off-day practices are not plentiful and the morning skates are the work days for the goalie who is scheduled to back up.

But heading into the game, he mentally prepares the same way.

“I want to make sure I’m preparing every night like I’m playing, so it would be a seamless transition,” said Swayman. “It’s tough to start out when the second shot ends up being a goal off your butt, but it all depends on what you do next and caring about that next shot. That’s what I wanted to do, focus in on the next shot.”

On Saturday, Swayman will face the Penguins, against whom he had a rough outing on February 8 in a 4-2 loss. After sitting the next game, Swayman then went on a 9-0-1 run. With all the issues the team is dealing with right now, the B’s could use a little bit of that airtight goaltending from Swayman.

Troy Grosenick will back up.

Frederic in, Nosek out

Cassidy said that Trent Frederic, scratched from Thursday’s game, will go back into the lineup on Saturday to try and re-ignite the sputtering third line. Putting Tomas Nosek with Charlie Coyle and Craig Smith did not fix what was ailing the unit. Coyle has not had the same dominant, puck possession shifts lately. And while Smith’s goalscoring has always been streaky (he hasn’t scored in five games), his usual hustling, grinding game has been missing as well.

“I think that line is struggling. They’re not generating enough down low like, for example, (Nick) Foligno’s line, some of that old fashioned, put a guy on your hip type of thing and take it to the net, recover the puck. That’s usually what gets them started,” said Cassidy. “And all of a sudden the rush game hasn’t been there for them for whatever reason. So for them, it’s some ups and downs, and there’s a little bit of that going on with our group. The top guys have been a little bit silent. If that’s going to happen, you can still win, but you better be good on the kill, get your timely goal, whether it’s on the power-play or something else and win a 2-1 game. And we haven’t been able to keep the puck out of our net enough to do that, with the exception of Tampa (a 2-1 overtime win). We didn’t get a lot of scoring, but we played a solid game and got the key saves. That’s a little bit of what’s going on. Those top guys are fighting it a little bit. It happens. They’ll play themselves out of it, hopefully sooner rather than later. For that (third) line in particular, I’d just like to see them play closer to the net.”

Cassidy liked the Foligno-Marc McLaughlin-Curtis Lazar enough to keep it together and he said Nosek will be scratched. Though goalscoring is not what Nosek was brought here for, he hasn’t scored since January 2. A re-set is in order.

Carlo returns

There was some much needed good news on the injury front. Brandon Carlo, who missed Thursday game with suspected concussion symptoms (he’s got a fairly extensive history with head injuries), was back on the ice for Friday’s practice and is expected to play on Saturday.

Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand took maintenance days but they’re expected to play against the Pens.

David Pastrnak (core) and Hampus Lindholm (knee) skated prior to practice but did not participate in the team session.

Cassidy remembers Bossy

Growing up in Ottawa, Cassidy as a Bruins’ fan would suffer at the hands of Mike Bossy and the Islanders, his brother’s favorite team. But there was no denying his talent of the sharpshooter, who had none straight 50-goal season. In five of those, he topped 60.. It was announced on Friday that Bossy died after a battle with cancer at the age of 65.

“He was a classy guy, an ambassador to the game. I thought he was real good for hockey. His release was unbelievable. At that age, guys like him and Phil Esposito, they got kids to take a wrist shot,” said Cassidy. “And he was a bigger guy than people thought. He fought through a lot of traffic back then. There was a lot of hacking and whacking and he took the brunt of it because he scored. . He was part of that (Brian) Trottier-(Clark) Gillies line, one of the best lines in hockey at the time. A real good hockey player. I think those guys sometimes would come out of the Quebec League back then, they used to get on them with “ah you’re not tough enough.’ But he was tough enough. He took a lot of whacks. He didn’t fight or run around, but getting to the net, he paid the price more than most.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/iWTGQ4U