Coach Jim Montgomery indicated earlier that he might go mostly with one goalie as the playoffs approached but has backed off that idea.
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Linus Ullmark and
Brandon Carlo, hanging on
Jeremy Swayman’s every word, shouldered their way into a clutch of a dozen or more reporters who gathered around the Bruins goalie Sunday after his 7-0 shutout win (26 stops) over the Sabres in Buffalo.
The would-be journalists, paid slightly higher than cub-reporter wages, came prepared for the assignment.
Ullmark reached in from the back of the pack, a chicken wing propped in his right hand as a microphone. The equally inquisitive “Scoop” Carlo “recorded” the event with an oversized piece of pepperoni pizza, droplets of succulent grease dribbling down his outreached hand.
“The last couple of games have been a real good positive for our team,” said Swayman, doing his best to maintain a straight face amid the “Animal House”-like skit. “I think the ability this locker room has to forget about the past, not think about the future, just stay in the moment, play whistle to whistle, that’s something special.”
After lauding the entire team for its defensive effort, which helped deliver his second straight shutout and third in eight starts, Swayman looked at his two luv-ya-bro reporters, their pizza and wing still in recording mode.
“I love you guys back there,” he added.
Swayman is now 6-2-0 in his last eight outings, dating back to his shutout win over the Predators Feb. 16. Ullmark, who’ll be in net Tuesday with the Senators in town, is 9-1-0 in his last 10, and leads all NHL tenders in wins (34), GAA (1.97), and save percentage (.935).
Early in the season, happy with the Ullmark-Swayman rotation, coach
Jim Montgomery said he’d be inclined to shift the workload more to one of the starters as the playoffs approached. Now with 13 games to go, and the postseason roughly a month on the horizon, the coach on Sunday did not sound ready to break from the currently winning formula any time soon.
“We don’t think we need to stray from it right now,” said Montgomery. “I always talk to Goalie
Bob[
Essensa] and Sweens [GM
Don Sweeney] about what we should be doing to get our goalies to be in the best position to be ready. We’ll continue to do that, but the rotation’s been working really well.
“You don’t need to fix anything that’s not broken.”
As Swayman wrapped up his media session in Buffalo, a beat reporter kiddingly asked if he had any nutrition tips.
“Uhh, yeah — pizza and wings!” he said. “OK, thanks guys.”
The session formally ended with Swayman taking a healthy bite out of Ullmark’s microphone, which appeared to be running medium hot, extra crispy, Buffalo-style.
