Swayman Has Embraced Opportunity Since Return to Boston

ANAHEIM, Calif. - Bruce Cassidy knows that deep inside, Jeremy Swayman was probably fuming. But when the netminder was assigned to Providence early last month upon the return of Tuukka Rask, he certainly didn't show it.
Instead, the 23-year-old made the trek down I-95 and went to work, arriving every day with a smile on his face and a determination to make his way back to Boston as soon as possible.

"He's always been a guy that comes to the rink every day with a smile on his face. He's grateful for the abilities that he's been given to play professional hockey," said Cassidy. "I've got to say, I never saw a guy that was down when there was three goalies around. Even when he left here. Inside, I'm sure he's probably fuming - and that's fine, we don't mind that. Body language, take it home.
"When you come to the rink, we want to make sure you're just working hard to get better every day and he was great at that. And here he is, pushing through to get the majority of the starts. Whatever was going on inside, he handled it well.
"He went down to Providence and also played well, didn't pout or say I'm too good for this league, which can happen to guys…he's not one of those. I think that's helped him in his trip back up here."

Swayman ended up playing just five games with the P-Bruins before Rask announced his retirement on Feb. 9, which opened the door for the Alaska native to return to the big club. And since then, the backstop has played the best hockey of his young career.
In six games since re-joining Boston, Swayman is 5-0-1 with a .971 save percentage, 0.82 goals against average, and two shutouts, a stretch that helped him secure on Tuesday afternoon the NHL's Rookie of the Month honor for February.
"It's a huge honor, but honestly it couldn't have happened without the team in front of me," said Swayman. "It's just been so fun to play with these guys every day and go to work. It's just been a really fun time, especially on this West Coast road trip."
Cassidy has seen a combination of confidence and consistency during Swayman's stellar stretch, both of which the Bruins caught glimpses of last season when the former University of Maine standout impressed during his initial 10-game stint with Boston with a 7-3-0 record, 1.50 GAA, and .945 save percentage.
"Consistency, no bad goals, for the most part; if he's not winning, he's bouncing back well," Cassidy said of what he's seen in Swayman's performance. "He's getting more traction with getting the confidence with the group as well. I think he had it last year but it was such a short stint that going into this year you want to see him more regularly, I guess, to no fault of his own. That's just the amount of games he played last year.
"I think you are starting to see the confidence in his game that, hey, I'm going to lead this team, I'm going to accept the challenge of getting the majority of the starts if that's the case…he's always been a guy to live up to the challenge. Wherever he goes he wants to be the guy."

Swayman made sure to take that exact approach during his brief two-week stay with Providence even if he had no plans to remain there long term.
"When I went down to Providence, there was a ton of assets for me to make sure that I was honing my game. There's a great coaching staff, the guys down there all want the best from each other," said Swayman. "I think the biggest thing I took from it was just staying in the moment and making sure that I'm taking advantage of the opportunity to get better - that's either having a good day or a bad day, taking the positive and making sure I wake up the next day and kind of attack that next opportunity."
From a technical standpoint, Cassidy described a backstop that appears to be recovering in the crease from initials shots and attempts much better since coming back to the NHL.
"He's a guy that always liked to challenge. I think [goalie coach Bob Essensa] has worked with him on that, when to challenge, when to [go to the] top of the crease vs. in the blue paint vs. outside of the blue paint," said Cassidy.
"Guys are smart in this league. They can make plays through traffic where if you get stuck outside, you're not gonna recover. I think he's done a better job with that. You've seen some nice saves recently."\
One of those stops was a sprawling glove denial of San Jose's Tomas Hertl on Saturday night in the closing minutes to keep the Bruins up by a goal. Despite the highlight-reel robbery, and several others before and since, Swayman credited the defense corps in front of him for how well Boston has locked it down in its own zone.
"I think the communication between the defense and I, and the forwards taking a lot of pride in the defensive zone," said Swayman. "Again, I really can't take the credit for all of these wins coming in because it's been a team effort the whole way through. It's been fun to be a part of and guys are really playing for the crest every night. I think that's why we've had a lot of success lately."

While Cassidy has acknowledged in recent days that Swayman has clearly taken a step toward securing the title of the B's No. 1 netminder, he said that a competition with Linus Ullmark for top billing between the pipes still remains.
"We've said that. Right now, Sway's a little ahead of Ullmark. That doesn't mean it can't change going forward," said Cassidy. "We saw that with Ully. He had a good run there for a while where he looked like he found his game, he's in there. For him to get the majority of the starts, he'd have to get back to that game. We're not married to one guy being the No. 1. We want competition.
"Hopefully it brings out the best in both of them. I think Ully's been OK, it's just Sway is in a groove right now. It's less about Linus and more about Jeremy. I guess if Linus wants to earn more starts, he'd have to get up to that level. If that happens, well, now you're in business."
While competition certainly remains, Swayman has embraced his relationship with Ullmark as one that can benefit both of them as they try to bring their best each time they get the call.
"It's meant the world to me. I see him as a brother," said Swayman. "He's been so great to me ever since the start. The relationship that we've formed, friendship, it's been one of the best I've had yet.
"I get to lean on him and hopefully he feels the same about me with just different advice and making sure we're keeping the confidence in each other and wanting the best out of each other because we both know that's what's gonna be best for the team.
"I'm super happy to have him as a goalie partner and a great friend."

Wait, There's More

• Curtis Lazar skated for the second straight day on Tuesday but will miss his second third consecutive game with an upper-body injury. Per Cassidy, it's possible that the forward could return later in the trip. "I will get word today after the site whether he would be in the mix for Thursday [in Las Vegas]," said Cassidy.
• Outside of Ullmark making the start between the pipes, Cassidy said there will be no other changes to the B's lineup vs. the Ducks.
• Anaheim has dropped two of its last three and lost five of seven games in the month of February. They won the first meeting between the teams, 5-3, on Jan. 24 in Boston. The Ducks (25-21-9, 59 points) are two points back of Dallas and Edmonton for the second wild card spot in the Western Conference.