{"id":557911,"date":"2026-04-22T11:52:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T11:52:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/557911\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T11:52:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T11:52:33","slug":"swaymans-top-save-in-game-2-had-little-to-do-with-stopping-pucks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/557911\/","title":{"rendered":"Swayman\u2019s top save in Game 2 had little to do with stopping pucks"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBoston Bruins\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t“A kid from Alaska never thought in a million years he\u2019d get his name chanted by 20,000.”<\/p>\n

\"Boston
\n\tJeremy Swayman is sporting a .932 save percentage through two playoff games. (AP Photo\/Jeffrey T. Barnes)\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBy Conor Ryan<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tApril 22, 2026 | 7:16 AM\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

3 minutes to read<\/p>\n

It was deja vu all over again for Jeremy Swayman and the Bruins<\/a> on Tuesday night. \u200b<\/p>\n

For the second game in a row, Boston was holding on for dear life against a furious Sabres surge in the waning minutes of the third period.<\/p>\n

Just 48 hours after Buffalo flipped a two-goal deficit into an eventual 4-3 win with just under eight minutes to play, the Sabres carved into what was a four-goal Boston lead in Game 2 of this first-round series.<\/p>\n

In the span of just 1:14, Bowen Byram and Peyton Krebs both found the back of the net \u2014 breathing new life into an emptying KeyBank Center with less than five minutes to go.<\/p>\n

As soon as Krebs tucked a ricocheting puck past Jeremy Swayman to turn a presumed blowout into yet another nail-biter, Boston\u2019s goalie had seemingly had enough.\u200b<\/p>\n

As Buffalo\u2019s goal horn blared, Swayman rose from his crouched perch between the pipes, looked over to Boston\u2019s bench, and signaled for a timeout.<\/p>\n

Boston was in desperate need of a breather. Marco Sturm obliged.<\/p>\n

And on a night where Swayman turned aside 34 Sabres shots, that timeout call might have been the top stop en route to a 4-2<\/a> win for Boston.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it was a little bit of a momentum shift,\u201d Swayman said after Boston\u2019s Game 2 victory<\/a>. \u201cBut I knew we weren\u2019t going to have a TV timeout after the goal, so it was just important to get everyone to take a breath.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that we have a standard to play at, and I thought the momentum did shift a little bit, and a ton of kudos to my group for responding extremely well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sturm, who signaled the timeout from Boston\u2019s bench, said the added break was needed for his skaters to steady themselves as Buffalo\u2019s partially-empty barn roared with approval over the shot at another late-game rally.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust to calm everything down,\u201d Sturm said of calling the timeout. \u201cWe\u2019ve been through it. Just to regroup again, make sure guys \u2014 it\u2019s about the team, it\u2019s about the win, not about anything else. I know that the crowd \u00a0\u2014 you guys know it, too \u2014 they\u2019re pretty good. They\u2019re behind them. They\u2019re pushing in. They feel it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The brief respite was all that the Bruins needed to regroup \u2014 as Boston thwarted several late O-zone pushes from Buffalo to knot the best-of-seven series up at 1-1.<\/p>\n

Through two games of a physical bout between Atlantic Division foes, the play of Swayman between the pipes has been one of the few constants for Sturm\u2019s club.<\/p>\n

After a sterling 2024 playoff run where he sported a .933 save percentage and 13.3 goals saved above expected rate across 12 games, Swayman has stopped 68 of the first 72 shots that have come his way from Buffalo \u2014 equating to a .932 save percentage.<\/p>\n

\u200b\u201cIt\u2019s calmness,\u201d defenseman Nikita Zadorov said of what he\u2019s seen from Swayman. \u201cIt\u2019s super important to see from the goalies. His confidence is great. Like I said, I don\u2019t want to give a lot of compliments to goalies, I don\u2019t like to jinx it, but he\u2019s been awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Swayman holding down the fort for Boston, the Bruins ramped up their physicality, forechecking pressure, and assertiveness down the other end of the ice in Game 2.<\/p>\n

Even with a gift-wrapped goal off a seemingly harmless neutral-zone dump-in from Morgan Geekie<\/a>, the Bruins landed their punches against Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen \u2014 with Viktor Arvidsson lighting the lamp twice and Pavel Zacha adding in a power-play tally.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Sabres generated plenty of quality looks around the crease in Game 2. <\/p>\n

That gave Swayman enough breathing room to lock things down, finishing the game with eight saves off of nine high-danger scoring chances generated by Buffalo.<\/p>\n

A resurgent performance from Boston\u2019s Mittelstadt-Zacha-Arvidsson line was needed on Tuesday, while the Bruins\u2019 PK \u2014 a perfect 9-for-9 in this series against a flatlining Buffalo power play \u2014 has drawn the ire of Sabres fans.<\/p>\n

But if the Bruins want to push their season beyond the next week, they\u2019re going to need Swayman to be the equalizer against a talented and hungry Buffalo roster.<\/p>\n

After two straight games of being serenaded by \u201cSWAY-MAN\u201d chants in Buffalo, Boston\u2019s 27-year-old goalie is looking forward to a different type of reception on Causeway Street for Games 3 and 4. \u200b<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s part of the game. It\u2019s my job to stay focused and enjoy it. A kid from Alaska never thought in a million years he\u2019d get his name chanted by 20,000. So it\u2019s a pretty incredible feeling,\u201d Swayman said of getting jeered by Buffalo fans. \u201cUnderstood that you have to earn it. You\u2019re only as good as your last game \u2013 so that\u2019s a big motivator moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\"Profile\t<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.<\/p>\n

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