BOSTON — Jeremy Swayman missed significant reps leading up to the season as he worked through an extended contract situation with the Boston Bruins.
His time away from the crease showed early on this season. Swayman did not look like his dominant self from last postseason and allowed four goals or more in his first eight starts. The Bruins goaltender knew he needed his extra work to find a rhythm and took it upon himself to make that time with goaltending coach Bob Essensa helped him find his pace of play.
“It was good for me to get a few good practices in in a row,” Swayman said following Boston’s 2-0 loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday night. “Bob and I had a little mini training camp. That’s something that, again, I knew that I needed to do. When I finally got the chance to, I went to work. That’s on me. That’s on everyone in this locker room to work in practice, to use games as a platform of our labor. That’s really exciting when you’re starting to get results.”
The work paid off for Swayman lately. He allowed just one goal, a power-play score from Jake DeBrusk, on 14 shots against the Canucks and now stopped 31 of the last 33 shots he faced.
Based on the uptick in practice energy, Swayman seemed excited for extra work to show results for the Bruins.
“We’ve elevated our practices to a new level to a standard that we all want,” Swayman said. “That’s always going to bleed into our play and setting a standard for ourselves that is better than everyone else. It’s different here in Boston. That’s our culture. It’s my job, it’s other leaders’ job, it’s everyone’s job in this locker room to follow that. Every single day. Night in, night out.”
