Jeremy Swayman is about to live out his childhood dream
Remember when the Bruins were going to get swept after the first two games?
Well, the Boston Bruins have forced a game seven against the Carolina Hurricanes with a massive 5-2 victory on home ice at TD Garden Thursday night. The team has to figure out how to win a game on the road, as the home team has won every game in the series, but that trend has to be broken at some point, right?
Rookie goaltender Jeremy Swayman came into the series after Linus Ullmark lost the first two games in Raleigh (not his fault), and the Bruins have rallied around the youngster. In four games, Swayman is 3-1, with a 2.51 goals-against-average and a .913 save percentage. Against a very good Hurricanes team.
The 23-year-old has helped his team claw back into the series to force a game seven on Saturday evening at PNC Arena in Raleigh. Swayman spoke to the media after game six to discuss this has been a dream of his since he was little:
SWAYMAN:"Countless. It's a dream come true. I can't wait."
He was a man of very few words on that question, but he got right to the point. What young kid who dreams of playing in the NHL doesn't dream about scoring the game seven game-winning goal in overtime? In Swayman's case, I guess it would be making a big game-changing save and winning it for his team but the same thing!
I don't think there's any doubt that Jeremy Swayman will be the Bruin's starter for game seven against the Hurricanes. He will be the first goalie not named Tim Thomas or Tuukka Rask to start a game seven for Boston since Andrew Raycroft in 2004. It was a first-round matchup against the Montreal Canadiens in which the Bruins lost the game 2-0. Boston has appeared in 11 games sevens since then, and their goalie's records look as such:
Tim Thomas - 3 wins and 2 losses
Tuukka Rask - 3 wins and 3 losses
All three of Thomas' game seven wins came in Boston's 2011 Stanley Cup Championship run.
Watch Swayman's entire post-game press conference below:
