The Boston Bruins entered Wednesday in the first wild card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference thanks to a regulation wins tiebreaker advantage over the Detroit Red Wings. Both teams have earned 82 points from 68 games.
Keeping that postseason spot could prove very difficult for the B’s from now through the April 14 regular season finale.
The Bruins have a slim one-point lead over the Columbus Blue Jackets and a five-point edge on the Ottawa Senators in the wild card race. The Blue Jackets have one game in hand on Boston, while the Senators have two.
Boston’s margin for error in this tightly contested playoff battle is extremely small. The Blue Jackets and Senators aren’t going away. Columbus has taken at least a point from 10 straight games. Ottawa is 7-1-2 in its last 10 games.
With points at an absolute premium, the Bruins need to rely on their No. 1 goalie to carry them back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Bruins have 14 games remaining, including two back-to-backs, and Jeremy Swayman should start almost every single one of them. Swayman has been the Bruins’ best player this season. He has bounced back nicely from a difficult 2024-25 campaign.
The 27-year-old netminder has a 26-14-4 record with a .906 save percentage and a 2.77 GAA. Those numbers don’t look elite, but if you dig deeper, it’s easy to see how impressive he has played this season.
The Bruins have given up the second-most high-danger scoring chances in the league, per Natural Stat Trick. They also rank 30th in shots allowed and 26th in scoring chances allowed. Swayman has faced 376 high-danger shots this season, which is the third-most of any goalie. He has an impressive .827 save percentage on those shots.
Swayman ranks third among all goalies with 22.8 goals saved above expected, per MoneyPuck. His 3.80 wins above replacement is also third-best among netminders. His 30 quality starts are the third-most and trails the league leader, Andrei Vasilevskiy, by two.
The bottom line is the Bruins are defending poorly, which has forced Swayman to thwart a ton of Grade A scoring chances by the opposition, and so far he has more than stepped up to the challenge.
If Swayman played on a team that defended at a high level, he might be the Vezina Trophy favorite right now. And honestly, he’s still making a case to be a finalist for the award despite playing on a bad defensive team.
Look at Tuesday night’s loss in Montreal, for example. The Canadiens tallied 25 high-danger chances — the most the Bruins have allowed in any game this season. Montreal’s expected goals scored was five, but Swayman allowed only three (two in regulation).
David Kirouac-Imagn ImagesDavid Kirouac-Imagn Images
The Bruins need Jeremy Swayman to play spectacular down the stretch to secure a playoff berth.
There’s not much to suggest the Bruins will suddenly become a consistently good defensive team over the final 14 games, and that’s a huge reason why Swayman needs to play almost all of the remaining matchups. He set a career-high last year with 58 starts. He’s made 44 starts this season, so it’s not like he’s been overworked. And after playing only one game for Team USA during the three-week Olympic break in February, he shouldn’t be fatigued.
Another reason to play Swayman most of the remaining games is backup goalie Joonas Korpisalo cannot be trusted to give the Bruins a chance to win on a consistent basis. Korpisalo has allowed four or more goals in four of his last five starts, and he’s on pace to finish with a save percentage below .900 for the third consecutive season. He has a .888 save percentage with 27 goals allowed in his last seven games.
The Bruins have the league’s toughest remaining schedule, per Tankathon. Seven of their last 14 games are against playoff teams and eight are on the road. The Bruins play the Red Wings on Saturday and the Blue Jackets twice more in Columbus. They also play the Atlantic Division-leading Lightning twice.
The Bruins need to play their best hockey of the season over the next month to secure a playoff spot. Every point is critical.
Swayman is the sixth-highest paid goalie in the league and he’s performing at an elite level. It’s time for the Bruins to rely on him almost every game the rest of the way. If that means starting 12 (or more) of the last 14 games, so be it.