The Bruins have $11.25 million invested in their goaltending this season and, since the play has resumed after Olympic break, it has been money well spent.
After Joonas Korpisalo stole a win for the B’s over Columbus in the first game back, Jeremy Swayman stopped 34-of-35 shots and the B’s beat the Sidney Crosby-less Pittsburgh Penguins, 2-1, at TD Garden on Tuesday.
The Penguins outplayed the B’s by a wide margin in the second and third periods but Swayman stopped all 27 shots he saw in the last 40 minutes and the B’s two first-period goals held up for the win. Marat Khusnutdinov Casey Mittelstadt scored in less than a minute in the first and the B’s hung on the rest of the way.
Swayman had taken the L in Philadelphia on Saturday — the best game the B’s have played of the three since the break — but forced his way back into the win column. After a shaky first goal, he was locked in.
“To be honest, I feel like it’s most nights. Or every night,” said Mittelstadt of Swayman. “It gives the guys in front of him a lot of confidence knowing he’s back there. The major thing is he makes saves in big times, and it’s very impressive. We’re lucky he’s on our side.”
The B’s are riding an 11-game win streak at the Garden, where they’re 23-8-1, and are now 28-0-3 when leading after two periods. Even though they’ve had to lean on their netminders, that’s not bad.
“When you see a stat like that. It’s a sign of a mature team. We’re not the most veteran team in the league but we do have a good deal of them,” said Mikey Eyssimont. “Even some of our younger guys are mature beyond their years as far as game management, knowing the score and knowing what it takes to win.”
It was a reasonably productive win for the B’s as well. It pushed their lead of the Washington Capitals, who lost to Utah and whom the B’s host here on Saturday, to four points. But Columbus, which hosts the B’s twice down the stretch, kept pace with a win over Nashvile. They’re three points behind the B’s.
The B’s took a 2-1 lead into the first break, but the first minute was an eventful one. The B’s had two glorious chances – one off a set play off the opening faceoff for Khusnutdinov and the other for Elias Lindholm – but Stuart Skinner turned them both away. Then they quickly found themselves down by a goal.
Erik Karlsson, from near the Bruins bench at the blue line, threw a floating shot on net that Swayman simply whiffed on with his blocker and the Pens were leading, 1-0, 48 seconds in. That was the only puck that got by Swayman.
“We as goalies know right away when that goal goes in what we could have done better,” said Swayman, who stared down Karlsson on a point-blank shot late in the third period. “It really is just flipping the switch to the next shot and on to the next play. Living in the past is not a good thing for our team. That’s something that us goalies in the union focus on and it gives us good results.”
To compound matters, coach Marco Sturm took a gamble and challenged for goalie interference on Ben Kindel, who grazed Swayman as he was battling with Jonathan Aspirot. But it did not rise to the level of interference and the B’s had to go on the penalty kill.
They did kill it, their fourth in four tries since coming out of the Olympic break, and then took a 2-1 lead with a pair in 50 seconds.
The first one came at 5:10. Mikey Eyssimont fed Khusnutdinov low in the right circle and, with a Fraser Minten screen, snapped it past the helpless Skinner for his 13th of the season.
Then, Pavel Zacha outmuscled Egor Chinakhov for a puck in the corner. Mittelstadt grabbed the loose puck and fed Nikita Zadorov out high at the opposite point. Zadorov put the puck on net and it produced a perfect rebound for Mittelstadt, who had an empty net for his 13th.
Feeling the play was getting away from his team, Pittsburgh coach Dan Muse decided to use his timeout to settle his team down and it mostly worked.
Meanwhile, with his initial softy behind, Swayman made several big saves. He stopped Anthony Mantha on a breakaway and Noel Acciari on a hard-working shorthanded bid. He was fortunate as well. Chinakhov hit the crossbar on a good chance.
The B’s held a 12-7 shot advantage in the first.
The opening period was entertaining, the second not so much.
The Pens shifted the play, holding a 15-11 shot advantage in the middle stanza, but Swayman remained strong. The quality of chances for Pittsburgh may not have been Grade-A, but he made the saves he needed to make.
Meanwhile, the B’s squandered a couple of power plays. The first was truncated by a too many men penalty and the second one, at the end of the period, did not click at all and the B’s went into the third up by what felt like a slim goal.
The Pens outshot the B’s 13-5 in the third but could not get another one past Swayman.
