Bruins disastrous defensive play lands team first loss

The Boston Bruins lost their first game of the season in Tuesday night’s contest against the Ottawa Senators in a 7-5 game thanks in part to some shoddy defense by goaltender Jeremy Swayman.

Claude Giroux and Brady Tkachuk opened the scoring early for Ottawa, each scoring goals within the first ten minutes of the game. Drake Batherson scored a goal of his own in the first period, putting Boston behind early on, a deficit they were not ultimately able to overcome.

In the second period, the two clubs combined for a total of seven goals. David Krejci and A.J. Greer each scored goals within 62 seconds, tying the game at three after David Pastrnak scored one of his own at the tail end of the first period.

Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman had a night to forget.

Not long after the Bruins managed to tie things up, Ottawa once again went on a scoring spree, putting Boston behind 6-3 before the Bruins put up two more of their own, coming within one score of another tied game.

At the end of the night, the Senators were just too much for the Bruins, both on offense and on defense. The Sens just overmatched Boston every step of the way, especially Jeremy Swayman, who Bruins HC Jim Montgomery believes was never given a chance to succeed by his teammates.

“I thought we hung him out to dry. His first two shots on net are 3-on-2s coming down 100 miles per hour. We didn’t get in anybody’s way and that’s a tough way to start a game on fresh ice.”

Swayman, currently in his second full season (third overall) in the NHL, surrendered six goals on 25 shots before being replaced by Linus Ullmark in the third period. This poor performance was a bit uncharacteristic for Swayman but a bit concerning nonetheless.

He took the loss in stride, though, and has vowed to his teammates, coaches, and fans that he will bounce back in a big way in the coming games.

“The effort we gave was unbelievable. I felt like I let the boys down, so I’m going to go back to the drawing board and do whatever I can, because I guarantee you that I’m going to make this up.”

On the season, the 23-year-old Swayman has allowed nine goals on 49 shots, good for an .816 SV% and a 5.40 average goals allowed. This will need to improve as the season goes on if he is to continue to steal starts from fellow goaltender Ullmark.