Bruins

A goalie rotation will mean little against Maple Leafs if Bruins keep playing with fire in D-zone

"I didn't think our urgency was where it needed to be to prevail tonight."

By Conor Ryan

April 23, 2024

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Don Sweeney acknowledged last week that the Bruins already have a “plan” in place with their goalie rotation.

But Boston’s general manager did add a qualifier to his musings.

“They know what their strengths are for our hockey club, and how much we rely on them,” Sweeney said of Boston’s 1-2 punch in net with Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark. “Performance and results will dictate some of this.”

At this juncture on the NHL calendar, wins and losses trump all other statistics. As such, the Bruins aren’t harping on the silver linings drawn from Monday’s Game 2 loss to the Maple Leafs. 

After relinquishing three goals on 33 shots against Toronto on Monday, Ullmark will likely get relegated back to the bench on Wednesday for Game 3 at Scotiabank Arena — with Boston turning to Swayman (35 saves on 36 shots in Game 1) in what would stand as the 28th straight game where the Bruins alternate goalies. 

Regardless of that next outcome in Toronto, the goalie rotation discourse is destined to carry on for however long Boston’s playoff campaign keeps on rolling.

But Monday’s 3-2 loss stood as a sobering lesson for the Bruins. 

Regardless of which goalie Montgomery turns to in Games 3, 4, and beyond — Boston isn’t going to stay afloat against this high-powered Leafs offense if it keeps treading water in its own end of the ice.

“We’re not playing fast enough,” Montgomery bemoaned after Boston’s first loss to Toronto all season. “We’re slow in transition, which is not allowing us to possess pucks and it’s not allowing us to get in on the forecheck more.”

Boston’s inability to generate quality scoring chances against Ilya Samsonov and Toronto’s malleable defense compounded their woes on Monday night. Granted, it’s an arduous undertaking for any NHL offense to gain traction when their puck carries are sputtering in the D-zone and neutral ice. 

In a similar vein to their shocking first-round exit last spring at the hands of the Panthers, the Bruins’ breakout labored against the Maple Leafs’ forecheck on Monday — with hurried passes and ill-advised feeds often leading to Grade-A shots sailing toward Ullmark.

For all of the warts present on Toronto’s roster — especially on the defensive end of the ice — the Leafs have enough firepower to shred even the sturdiest netminders manning the crease.  

Both Swayman and Ullmark (who snuffed out quality scoring chances by Calle Jarnkrok and Nicholas Robertson in Game 2) have been up to the task against Toronto. 

The same can’t be said for the skaters in front of both netminders, especially Ullmark on Monday.

“I didn’t think our urgency was where it needed to be to prevail tonight,” Montgomery added. 

Even if Montgomery opted to do away with the goalie rotation and roll with Swayman on Monday, the results likely would have been the same in Game 2 — a contest where Toronto held a whopping 37-17 edge in scoring chances and 14-7 advantage in high-danger looks.

Strong goaltending has buoyed the Bruins’ defensive numbers all season long, masking at times a D-zone structure that’s been prone to coughing up quality chances in and around the slot.

Boston might have ranked fifth in the NHL during the regular season in goals against per game (2.70), but the Bruins were also knocked for coughing up 11.42 five-on-five high-danger scoring chances per contest (per Natural Stat Trick).

That ranked 24th overall in the NHL during regular-season play — and dead last among the 16 teams currently in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Pucks flung off into no man’s land, missed clears, and careless play through the neutral zone can make life miserable for a defense. Against a team as deadly as the Maple Leafs, it can put you on the mat in short order.

A breakdown at the netfront between Brandon Carlo and Hampus Lindholm in the first period gave Max Domi ample time to jam home his own rebound past Ullmark — just 14 seconds after Morgan Geekie’s opening tally. 

A  whiffed clearing attempt from Jake DeBrusk and Kevin Shattenkirk’s missed opportunity to drop to the ice for a block led to John Tavares firing home a power-play tally in the following frame. Just not good enough, especially against this opponent.  

“I think through the neutral zone, we have to be a little bit faster and more simple,” Pavel Zacha noted. “I think trying to make plays through the neutral zone — that’s not our game and then their D have way more time than we want them to have to break the pucks in. So that’s one of the things we have to get better at.”

The Bruins still hold a sizable edge in net during this series, regardless of whether it’s Swayman or Ullmark getting the call. An emphasis on fighting toward inside ice should aid Boston’s efforts in landing more punches against Samsonov.

But if Boston doesn’t tighten up its transition game and cut down on time spent in its own zone, a goalie rotation will once again hold little sway over this team’s efforts to punch a ticket to the second round.