As defenseman Mason Lohrei put it, "Seems like you can never rattle the guy."
Swayman faced his first playoff adversity in Game 2 against the Panthers, when he allowed four goals on 23 shots mainly because of defensive miscues and was pulled for Linus Ullmark at 1:28 of the third period. He said after the game, "One game at a time is all I'm worried about. Body feels great. I'm very lucky to be in this position, and I can't wait until Friday."
If the goalie gets the nod Friday, it would mark his eighth consecutive start. The Bruins and Panthers head to Boston for Game 3 at TD Garden (7 p.m. ET; MAX, truTV, TNT, SN, TVAS, CBC) tied 1-1 in the best-of-7 series.
"That guy's always dialed in," Lohrei said. "We're never worried about that. He's unbelievable and the backbone of this team. We're lucky to have him."
Swayman is playing some of his best hockey in a season that was, already, excellent. He split time with Ullmark, the reigning Vezina Trophy winner voted as best goalie in the NHL, with the pair playing every other game for nearly the entirety of 2023-24. Swayman finished 25-10-8 with a 2.53 GAA and .916 save percentage. They were numbers matched almost exactly by Ullmark, who went 22-10-7 with a 2.57 GAA and .915 save percentage.
The Bruins started the playoffs by alternating the pair through the first three games against the Maple Leafs, with Swayman getting Games 1 and 3 and Ullmark starting Game 2.
Swayman has started every game since.
Because, as Bruins coach Jim Montgomery put it, "When a guy is playing that well, it's like, don't outsmart yourself."
"He just looks really poised and looks like he's making good reads," said Alfie Michaud, Swayman's goaltending coach at the University of Maine. "He's very calm in the net. There's not a lot of extra movement, which means there's not a lot of holes. [There are] usually the holes because you've got extra movement and he's been very calm and compact. And then he's really good at those scrambly situations because he's such a good skater."
Michaud, by coincidence, happened to be in Florida this week, so he went to Amerant Bank Arena for Game 1, and noted exactly what his former pupil has been doing right.
"He competes," Michaud said. "He fights hard to see the puck. I sat behind him a couple periods and he's just working really hard to find sightlines and then he's making that save. … For the most part, he's been controlling the puck and not creating second-chance opportunities."
The 25-year-old goalie is in his third full season in the NHL and made six starts in the playoffs prior to this year, going 3-4 with a .901 save percentage and allowing 18 goals on 181 shots. It was good, but nothing like this.
And what has been particularly notable is that calm, that ability to take it all in stride, the laughter coming out of a pile of bodies in the crease, the singing on the ice, the coolness in the postgame locker room, the unflappability at all times.
It's something that hasn't always been there.
"I think he was so dialed when he was younger, so focused, he was trying to make a name for himself," Michaud said. "I think now he's starting to realize that it's more about the journey than the end result and if you take care of that, then that other stuff will just kind of happen naturally.
"But if you're fretting about three steps ahead, the here and now will never turn out how you want."
That attitude has made an impression on his teammates, their confidence in him and the confidence in themselves. It has made them feel secure in their play, their decision-making, and even their mistakes.
"His positivity on the ice is outstanding," defenseman Charlie McAvoy said. "His attitude really is incredible. It's always about the next play. If he makes a mistake, he's the first one to come and tell you, like, 'I've got to better, I'll be better, we'll get that back.' And then when we make a mistake it's the same, he does the same thing, so he can take that responsibility in a way off of guys' shoulders, which is a gift."
Swayman can handle it. He has handled it.
"That's what a goalie's there for," Michaud said. "We're there to fix mistakes. That's what people don't understand [is] these guys are equipped with that. He's been doing it since he was 6 years old. It's not like this is a new thing. Is it on a bigger scale? Yeah, no question, but him getting scored on as a 6-, 7-year-old is the same as him getting scored on as a 25-year-old. You feel crappy when the puck goes in the net because you feel like you let down your team. That's just how it is."
Because every goalie, whether it's Swayman or Patrick Roy, is going to let in goals, even though Swayman hasn't let in many.
It's what happens after that.
"It's just inevitable," Michaud said. "It's just how do you deal with it? And he's seemed to find a way that when he does give one up, he's able to walk it back in and get ready for the next shot."
Swayman is a long way from Alaska right now. He is a long way from Denali and those campsites and bears passing by on the trails or snorting and thumping by his tent at night. The attention of the hockey world is focused on him while he plays under the lights and the scrutiny, robs one scorer after another, stealing goal after goal.
But it was back in Alaska where he learned to live in the moment, learned to appreciate the outdoors and the animals, the nature and the natural. It was where he learned to be calm and levelheaded, to not budge when faced with danger.
"The way we look at it is it's one save at a time and that's all we got," Ken Swayman said. "You can't think of anything other than one save at a time. That's how Jeremy approaches it, and he's taught me to approach it, I can't think of next week, I can't think of next month.
"All he's got is the next shot. That's the only reality we have."
