When the Boston Bruins allowed four first period goals on Thursday night to trail by three goals after the opening 20 minutes, interim coach Joe Sacco pulled Jeremy Swayman in place of Joonas Korpisalo. It had to be frustrating for Swayman who matched up against former teammates Linus Ullmark who got the last laugh.
Ullmark made 22 saves in Ottawa's 6-3 win. Korpisalo kept his team in the game over the final two periods only allowing one goal, but when the Black and Gold play the Tampa Bay Lightning at the TD Garden on Saturday night, Swayman will be back between the pipes.
“We feel like he needs to get back in there,” said Sacco. “We want to make sure that we have a good response as a group here tonight, especially the first period.”
Is it surprising that Sacco is going back to Swayman? No, but the case could be made the Bruins play better in front of Korpisalo this year. Two points out of the final Eastern Conference wild card spot, sooner or later Boston will have to turn to Korpisalo. As far as the rest of the lineup goes, there will be no big changes from the last game.
Charlie McAvoy injury update
Before the Bruins took to the ice for their pre-game morning skate, Charlie McAvoy, who has been out since the 4 Nations Face-Off, was on the ice working out, but according to Sacco, he is still week-to-week with his injury.
“There’s no new timeline on it, the timeline’s the same,” said Sacco. “He’s still week-to-week. The good news is he’s skating on his own so that’s positive. The next step, if and when he joins our team to start skating with us as a group.”
With the way the season is going, it would be surprising to see McAvoy play again this season. He is so valuable that risking him to longer-term injury is not really worth it, right? Sooner or later the Bruins will be looking ahead to 2024-25 and they will need him healthy when training camp begins.
Rob Gronkowski discusses Brad Marchand trade
If there is one athlete who knows what it's like to play in Boston, it's former New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski. The Super Bowl champ joined former teammate Julien Edelman on the "Dudes On Dudes" podcast and talked about Marchand's trade to the Florida Panthers at the trade deadline.
“I saw that, man. Brad Marchand did so much for the city of Boston,” said Gronkowski. “He brought a championship there. Just a great dude overall. I met him just a few times when I was on the New England Patriots, just being up there, up in the city. What a great dude. Such a hockey dude, man.”
This just goes to show that no matter what city it is, athletes from all sports respect fellow athletes and support them during and after their playing days.