The Bruins started the season with a bang as they rolled to a 5-2 victory on the road. Leading up to the game, the biggest question was who was Jim Montgomery going to start in net? After keeping the answer hush-hush until game day, it was finally revealed the veteran Linus Ullmark would get the nod.
Ullmark finished the game with 33 saves, and a .943 save percentage, as he only gave up two goals and secured his first win of the season. It’s never an easy task keeping Alex Ovechkin off the score sheet, and Ullmark did just that, saving all three shots faced by the sharpshooter. Ullmark was shut down in both the first and third periods allowing the Bruins to build an early 3-0 lead and holding on in the third for the 5-2 victory.
Last season the two goaltenders split the duties right down the middle, as they each started 39 games. Prior to the game, Montgomery did speak about the goalie situation giving some insight on how the two may be used during his first year.
“The Bruins have had tremendous success both ways,” Montgomery said. “I think a lot of credit has got to go to (Bruins goalie coach) Bob Essensa, who has done a great job developing relationships with the goalies, making sure that the Bruins get excellent goaltending throughout the regular season to be able to get the opportunity to get in the playoffs.”
“I think everyone would say ideally you have a No. 1 (goalie) by the time you get into the playoffs, and after the trade deadline. And that’s up to one of those goaltenders to emerge ahead of the other. But in today’s NHL, to have success in the regular season, with as many three (games) in four (days) as you have, you have to have two goalies to do the job night in and night out.”
With comments like these, you can read into it as Montgomery will continue to split the duties depending on which goalie is the freshest and what the game load for the week is. During his past tenures as head coach Montgomery has been known to play the hot hand and ride with them. The Bruins are in excellent shape, as they have two solid goaltenders that are capable of shouldering whatever load is thrown their way.
In his second year, Swayman has proved he is ready to continue taking on an expanded workload as he looks to cement himself as the number one. Even with Swayman making the push, Ullmark is still the talented veteran that can be relied upon and is going nowhere. However, the goalie situation shakes out; the Bruins are blessed to have a 1A and 1B tandem they can depend on to stay solid between the pipes. With a high-powered top-six forward group and a banged-up defense to begin the season, the Bruins will need both goalies to step up and keep them in contention.
