![[US, Mexico & Canada customers only] Feb 14, 2026; Milan, Italy; Nick Olesen of Denmark scores their first goal past Jeremy Swayman of the United States in men's ice hockey group C play during the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mike Segar/Reuters via Imagn Images](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_5068,h_2850/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/74/01khfgcb5m2knfb2pddb.jpg "[US, Mexico & Canada customers only] Feb 14, 2026; Milan, Italy; Nick Olesen of Denmark scores their first goal past Jeremy Swayman of the United States in men's ice hockey group C play during the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mike Segar/Reuters via Imagn Images")
Boston Bruins fans got to see starting goaltender Jeremy Swayman get into game action on Saturday against Denmark.
Just by looking at the score, it appeared as though Team USA had the game well in hand. The Americans outshot the Danes 47-21 en route to a 6-3 win. But Swayman’s outing wasn’t quite as confidence-inspiring as Team USA would have hoped.
The Danes pushed the Americans in the early going, taking a 2-1 lead into the first intermission on an embarrassing goal. While the goal itself ended up becoming the result of unfortunate circumstances, it, nonetheless, did little to quell Swayman’s shaky outing.
While Swayman settled down somewhat, the Bruins’ netminder surrendered a third goal to briefly give Denmark life at the tail end of the second period. Team USA eventually pulled away as they took over the game, pretty much leaving Swayman as a spectator on the opposite end of the ice.
Of course, Denmark deserves a ton of credit. They went up against a Juggernaut in the United States and didn’t back down. It took all of the United States’ four lines to finally shut down the Danes.
But Swayman’s outing now puts American head coach Mike Sullivan in a bit of a pickle. There’s no doubt that Connor Hellebuyck is the starter. But does that mean that he’ll turn to Jake Oettinger as the backup? Or does Sullivan give Swayman one more shot at some point?
The Americans will play their final round robin game against Germany on Sunday. The betting odds are that Hellebuyck will be back on the ice. Since Swayman played on Saturday, Oettinger will likely be the backup on Sunday.
But what about moving forward? Will Swayman get to watch the rest of the tourney from the press box?
Bruins' goalie got his shot at Olympics
At last year’s 4 Nations Face-Off, Sullivan rode Hellebuyck for the tourney. The one game that Hellebuyck did not start went to Oettinger. That decision left some questions up in the air. Namely, questions lingered about when Swayman would get a chance for Team USA.
That’s what Sullivan addressed on Saturday. He gave Swayman his chance like he did with Oettinger last year.
Now, the situation is pretty much clear. Swayman remains the third option. At this point, it’s unlikely Oettinger or Swayman sees the crease. Hellebuyck will be the guy from here on in. Unless Sullivan turns to Oetinger for the round-robin finale, it’ll be Hellebuyck against Germany and then again in the quarterfinals. Assuming the US makes it past the quarterfinals, there would be two more games to play: the semi-final and then the finals.
At this point, the opponents remain unclear. But you would have to think that with the US slated to play about four more games in about the span of a week, there might be a start there for Oettinger or Swayman.
But knowing what we know, it’s Hellebuyck’s net until his legs fall off.