It was a game that Boston Bruins goaltender Jermey Swayman would rather forget. He was torched for seven goals by the Ottawa Senators on Monday night in a 7-2 loss. It was the first effort this season that reminded fans of what happened last year with the former University of Maine standout.
First-year head coach Marco Sturm, to nobody's surprise, went with Joonas Korpisalo the next night against the New York Islanders in a 5-2 win. Then two nights later against the Buffalo Sabres, Sturm went back to Korpisalo in a 4-3 overtime victory. After practice on Friday afternoon at Warrior Ice Arena, Sturm wasn't tipping his hand as to who was starting against the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday afternoon at the TD Garden.
Jeremy Swayman has big bounce-back game against Carolina
As many expected, Swayman got the start against the Hurricanes, and he had a bounce-back game. A big one. He turned back 28 of the 29 shots Carolina threw at him in a 2-1 win to give the Black and Gold a three-game winning streak. It also got them back to .500 at 7-7-0.
Swayman made nine saves in each of the first two periods before making 11 saves in the third. He was also aided by the play of his defense in front of him.
Really good," Sturm said. "It doesn't really surprise me. I expected him to be just like he was today -- outstanding."
"It was important for us," Swayman said. "We wanted to end this homestand the right way, and we played a complete game today, which is something we can really build on. It's good to have momentum with three (wins) now and feeling good about our game and moving forward."
The win was important because it got Boston back to .500 on the season after a six-game losing streak earlier in the season that put them behind everyone else in the Eastern Conference. Beating the Islanders and Sabres were good wins, but wins over the Colorado Avalanche last Saturday and Carolina a great wins for a team looking to make strides this year.