Anchorage’s Jeremy Swayman. Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
Jeremy Swayman did his part Tuesday with a 24-save shutout performance in the Boston Bruins’ 3-0 blanking of the Detroit Red Wings in Massachusetts. The Anchorage goaltender’s effort helped make the NHL Atlantic Division standings more of a crowded mess than his hometown’s intersection of Minnesota Drive and Northern Lights Boulevard on a snowy January evening.
Swayman, 27, earned his first shutout of the season and the 17th of the former South High Wolverine’s six-year professional career. Boston won its fourth consecutive game and sixth in seven while ending Detroit’s four-game run of victories. The Bruins scored a 1-0 win versus Pittsburgh on Monday behind Joonas Korpisalo’s 27-save outing.
Boston has surrendered only three goals in the first four of its current five-game homestand. It welcomes Seattle to TD Garden on Thursday. At 26-19-2 with 54 standings points, the Bruins sit in sixth place in the eight-team Atlantic but only seven points behind first-place Tampa Bay. The Lightning, Red Wings, Montreal, Toronto and Buffalo would all represent the division if the Eastern Conference portion of the Stanley Cup Playoffs started now.
With Tuesday’s win, Swayman improved to 18-11-2 with a 2.79 goals-against average and .905 save percentage.
Boston has played 57% of its regular-season schedule. The NHL will take a lengthy break for next month’s Olympic Winter Games in Italy. Earlier this month, Swayman was the fifth Alaska hockey player named to a U.S. Olympic team, joining medalists Pam Dreyer and Kerry Weiland as well as Brian Cooper and Scott Gomez.