After the game, Vasy and Swayman were all gamesmanship.
“It’s one of the biggest moments for me, because I never fought in the NHL,” Vasilevskiy said. “Big thanks to him. He was great in the net all game and great in the fight as well.”
“I’m fighting the biggest, toughest goalie in the league,” Swayman added. “It wouldn’t be my first choice, but glad we got the first one out of the way. Probably retire after that.”
Kucherov was a little less subtle about his feelings toward the scrap, dropping a gem of a quote that I had to make sure wasn’t AI before publishing:
“I knew he was going to beat the wheels off of Swayman right away,” Kucherov said. “We call him ‘White Tyson’ now.”
Update: [whitetyson.com is now a real website that exists.]
The comeback
It’s hard to tell whether the Bruins simply blew their chances, or they were so concerned with Jon Cooper whacking them after the game that they thought it was better safe than sorry. But 11 Boston penalties brought on three power-play goals on eight chances, allowing the Bolts to regain control of the driver’s seat for the rest of the game.