Swayman’s brilliant postseason continued by stopping 38 shots, Brandon Carlo scored a goal just a few hours after his wife gave birth to their son. With his performance, the Bruins topped the Panthers 5-1 in Game 1 of their second-round playoff series Monday night.
“I was just so impressed by the way all of us didn’t take no for an answer,” Swayman said. “The physicality, the mental and everything was so good to see and I’m really excited for what’s to come.”
Morgan Geekie, Mason Lohrei, Justin Brazeau, and Jake DeBrusk also had goals for Boston, which improved to 5-0-0 against the Panthers this season.
Pavel Zacha had a pair of assists for the Bruins, who scored three times in the final 7:08 of the second period to erase a 1-0 deficit and send his team ahead.
Swayman has been in net for all five of Boston’s wins so far in these playoffs and he was brilliant, just as he was against Toronto in a Round 1 series.
Through seven playoff appearances, Swayman has made a league-best 210 saves with a most-stingy goals-against average of 1.42.
“We made a lot of mistakes,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said. “If not for Jeremy Swayman, that would have been a lot closer game and maybe they come out on top.”
Matthew Tkachuk had the goal for Florida, which has rallied from a 1-0 deficit to win an NHL playoff series only twice in nine previous opportunities.
Game 2 is in Sunrise on Wednesday night.
“I didn’t care for our game,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “And I think we can fix a big chunk of the things we didn’t like.”
It was the first one-sided game of the five this season between the clubs who finished 1-2, Florida first with 110 points, Boston second with 109 points; in the Atlantic Division.
