Swayman’s top save in Game 2 had little to do with stopping pucks

Boston Bruins

“Never would an Alaskan kid have thought that in a million years 20,000 people would be chanting his name.”

By Connor Ryan

April 22, 2026 | 7:16 am

3 minutes to read

It was it all over again for Jeremy Swayman and the Bruins on Tuesday night. ​

For the second straight game, Boston was holding on for dear life against a furious Sabres rush in the final minutes of the third period.

Just 48 hours after Buffalo turned a two-goal deficit into a final 4-3 win with less than eight minutes left, the Sabers held Boston to a four-goal lead in Game 2 of this first-round series.

In the span of just 1:14, Bowen Byram and Peyton Cripps both found the back of the net, breathing new life into an empty KeyBank Center with less than five minutes left in the game.

Once Krebs poked a rebound past Jeremy Swayman to turn one presumed strike into another, it appeared the Boston goalie had had enough.

When Buffalo’s goal horn sounded, Swayman rose from his seat crouched between the pipes, looked at the Boston bench, and signaled a timeout.

Boston was in desperate need of a break. Marco Sturm is committed.

And on the night that Swayman deflected 34 Saber rounds, that timeout call may have been the first stop on the road to… 4-2 Winning for Boston.

“I think it was a bit of a momentum shift.” Swayman said after Boston’s Game 2 win. “But I knew we wouldn’t have any TV time out after the goal, so it was important for everyone to take a breath.

“We know we have a standard to play to, and I think the momentum has shifted a little bit, and I would like to commend my group for responding very well.”

Sturm, who signaled the timeout from Boston’s bench, said the extra break was needed for the skaters to steady themselves as Buffalo’s partially empty bullpen roared approval for the shot on another drive late in the game.

“Just to calm everything down,” Sturm said of calling the timeout. “We’ve been through it. Just to regroup again, make sure it’s about the team, it’s about winning, not about anything else. I know the fans – and you know it too – they’re very good. They support them. They push. They feel it.”

A short break was all the Bruins needed to regroup – as Boston thwarted several late O-zone drives from Buffalo to take the best-of-seven series by a score of 1-1.

Through two games of physical confrontation between the Atlantic Division foes, Swayman’s play between the pipes has been one of the few constants for Sturm’s club.

After a playoff run in 2024, where he posted a .933 save percentage and 13.3 goals saved above average in 12 games, Swayman stopped 68 of the first 72 shots that came his way from Buffalo — the equivalent of a .932 save percentage.

“It’s calm,” defenseman Nikita Zadorov said of what he saw from Swayman. “It’s very important to see from the goalkeepers. His confidence is huge. Like I said, I don’t want to give too much credit to goalkeepers, and I don’t like to jinx it, but he was fantastic.”

With Swayman holding down the fort for Boston, the Bruins stepped up their physicality, forechecking pressure, and assertiveness at the other end of the ice in Game 2.

Even with a gift goal from Morgan Geiki from a seemingly innocuous neutral zone, the Bruins landed their punches against Oko-Pekka Luukkonen — with Viktor Arvidsson lighting the lamp twice and Pavel Zacha adding a tally on the power play.

That gave Swayman enough breathing room to close things out, and he finished the game with eight saves out of nine high-danger scoring opportunities created by Buffalo.

A renewed performance was needed from Boston’s Mittelstadt-Zacha-Arvidsson line on Tuesday, while the Bruins’ PK — a perfect 9-for-9 in this series against Buffalo’s power play — drew the ire of Sabers fans.

But if the Bruins want to delay their season beyond next week, they’ll need Swayman to be the equalizer against Buffalo’s talented and hungry roster.

After two straight games of “SWAY-MAN” chants in Buffalo, Boston’s 27-year-old goaltender is looking forward to a different kind of reception on Causeway Street for Games 3 and 4.

“It’s part of the game. It’s my job to stay focused and enjoy it. Never in a million years did a kid from Alaska think he’d have 20,000 people chanting his name. It’s an unbelievable feeling,” Swayman said after being taunted by Buffalo fans. “I get that you have to deserve it. You’re only as good as your last game – so that’s a huge incentive to move forward.”