Boston Bruins: Boston’s Goaltenders are Elite

The Boston Bruins beat the New York Rangers on Saturday 4-2 for their 10th straight win. Linus Ullmark made 24 saves for his 7th straight win himself. It is pretty apparent that Ullmark will win the Vezina trophy this year as the NHL’s best goaltender. But that is not the only trophy that Ullmark could be in consideration for.

The Boston goalie pair is probably the best in the league. Linus Ullmark is the league leader in save percentage, goals against, and wins. Ullmark could be the first goalie to win the triple crown since Carey Price did it in 2015. The Sweden native is having a career year in his second season as a Bruin already at a career-high in wins which is currently 32. His league-leading goals against average and save percentage are also career-highs. Ullmark is a monster this season after having a pretty good season last year. The jump looks like an outlier on his career breakdown but if the Bruins are going to keep playing like this then who knows what his numbers look like at the end of his career?

Third-year goalie Jeremy Swayman started the year off a little slow, but after an injury early in the year, Swayman has found his stride as the second goalie on the best team in the league. Let it be known that Ullmark’s outstanding season is slightly overshadowing Swayman’s good second full season in the NHL. Swayman joined the Bruins out of college after his Maine Black bears were eliminated in the playoffs in 2021. Swayman was sent down for a little bit last year to try and fit in a Tuukka Rask comeback but was brought back up after Rask retired shortly after his return. Swayman was a true professional about it all and it clearly didn’t have an effect on his production. The Anchorage native joined the Bruins out of college after his Maine Black bears were eliminated in the playoffs where he won 7 of his 10 starts. This year, Swayman is tied for 7th in the league for save percentage and is 4th in the league in goals against. That is better than most teams’ top goalie and the Bruins are fortunate enough to have a goalie of this caliber to step in and give their top goalie a break. Let’s not forget Swayman and Ullmark split much of last year with Swayman actually getting the nod as the playoff starter to start the first round.

The Bruins goalies are both in the top 10 for save percentage and the top 5 in goals against, no other team has that level of goaltending. Playoffs are a different beast but the Bruins have no shortage of talent or depth this team will be nearly impossible to beat.