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Bruins Tie 8-Year Knot with Swayman

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BOSTON – (Staff Report from Official News Release) – Boston General Manager Don Sweeney announced that the Bruins have re-signed goaltender Jeremy Swayman to an 8-year contract extension through the 2031-32 season with an annual NHL cap hit of $8.25 million.

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During the 2023-24 season, Swayman appeared in 44 games with the Bruins, compiling an overall record of 25-10-8 with a 2.53 goals against average and a .916 save percentage. In 12 playoff games, he recorded a 2.15 goals against average and a .933 save percentage.

The 6-foot-3, 195-pound goalkeeper has played in 132 career NHL games, all with Boston, posting an overall record of 79-33-15 with a 2.34 goals against average and a .919 save percentage. He ranks fifth in franchise history in goals against average and fourth in save percentage.

Among active NHL goaltenders with a minimum of 25 games played in 2023-24, Swayman ranked in the top-10 in goals against average (8th) and save percentage (T-5th).

The 25-year-old was selected to the 2024 NHL All-Star Game through the All-Star Fan Vote. In February 2024, he tallied a career-high 43 saves in the team’s 4-3 shootout win against the Dallas Stars.

In 2022, Swayman was named to the 2021-22 NHL All-Rookie Team after ranking first among rookie goaltenders with a minimum of 25 games played in wins (23), goals against average (2.41) and save percentage (.914).

The Anchorage, Alaska native was originally selected by Boston in the fourth round (111th overall) of the 2017 NHL Entry Draft.

Bruins Hit Free Agent Market for $82.5m

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Boston Bruins Land Free Agents Lindholm, Zadorov

The Boston Bruins began their offseason by landing free agents Elias Lindholm and Nikita Zadorov in deals totaling $82.5 million, according to multiple reports Monday.

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Lindholm’s deal is for seven years, $52.5 million and Zadorov for six years, $30 million, per news reports.

Both players finished out the 2023-24 season in Vancouver.

Lindholm, 29, tallied 44 points (15 goals, 29 assists) in 75 games last season with Calgary and Vancouver. The No. 5 overall pick in the 2013 draft by Carolina, Lindholm has 557 career points (218 goals, 339 assists) in 818 games with the Hurricanes, Flames and Canucks.

The Canucks traded their 2024 first-round pick, Andrei Kuzmenko, Hunter Brzustewicz, Joni Jurmo and a 2024 fourth rounder to Calgary for Lindholm in January.

Zadorov, 29, had 20 points (6 goals, 14 assists), 125 penalty minutes and 68 blocks in 75 games last season with the Flames and Canucks.

Zadorov has 146 career points (47 goals, 99 assists) and 701 penalty minutes in 642 games with Buffalo, Colorado, Calgary, Chicago and the Canucks. The Sabres selected him No. 16 overall in the 2013 draft.

Among 2023-24 playoff teams, the Bruins are third in the NHL with $21.6 million in cap space entering free agency.

–Field Level Media

Bruins Trade Ullmark to Senators

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BOSTON – (Staff Report from Official News Release) – Boston Bruins acquired forward Mark Kastelic, goaltender Joonas Korpisalo and a 2024 first-round draft pick (25th overall) from the Ottawa Senators in exchange for goaltender Linus Ullmark. Ottawa will retain 25% of Korpisalo’s salary.
Kastelic, 25, appeared in 63 games during the 2023-24 season, recording five points and five assists for 10 points. The 6-foot-4, 226-pound forward has skated in 144 career NHL games, all with the Senators, tallying 14 goals and 11 assists for 25 points. Among Ottawa forwards in 2023-24, Kastelic ranked third in penalty minutes (63) and fourth in hits (126). The Phoenix, Arizona native was originally selected by Ottawa in the fifth round (125th overall) of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft.
Korpisalo, 30, appeared in 55 games with Ottawa during the 2023-24 season, recording a record of 21-26-4 with a 3.27 goals against average and .890 save percentage.  The 6-foot-3, 189-pound goaltender has played in 276 career NHL games with Ottawa, Los Angeles and Columbus, compiling an overall record of 115-107-29 with a 3.06 goals against average and .901 save percentage. The Pori, Finland native was originally selected by Columbus in the third round (62nd overall) of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft.

Panthers Send Bruins to Early Summer

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BOSTON – Florida’s Gustav Forsling’s rebound goal with 1:33 left in regulation lifted the visiting Panthers to a 2-1, series-clinching win over the host Bruins in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals on Friday.

Anton Lundell had his initial shot stopped by Boston goaltender Jeremy Swayman (26 saves), but from the left side Forsling slipped the loose puck inside the near post for the deciding goal.

Lundell finished with a goal and an assist after scoring the tying tally at 12:44 of the second, helping the Panthers to their sixth straight playoff win at TD Garden.

Pavel Zacha scored Boston’s lone goal.

Sergei Bobrovsky made 22 saves for Florida, including nine in the third period.

Bruins captain Brad Marchand returned to the lineup following a two-game absence due to an upper-body injury.

After the Bruins were unable to clear a shot blocked by Jake DeBrusk, Lundell picked up a loose puck in the slot and unleashed a dart to beat Swayman and tie the game at 12:44 of the middle frame.

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A rollercoaster first period saw the Bruins post the first four shots on goal before a span of 14:11 without one, but Zacha buried the opening goal — the first of his 25-game playoff career — with 52.8 seconds left to make it 1-0.

DeBrusk continued his strong playmaking run with a dish off the neutral zone wall to spring Zacha for the breakaway, which he brought to his backhand and slipped under the crossbar.

Bobrovsky came up with several key saves in the second period that allowed his Panthers to tie the game, including denying Justin Brazeau’s one-timer on the same shift as Lundell’s goal.

Florida looked to take a 2-1 lead in the opening minute of the third. Brandon Montour took a slapper from the right point that Swayman initially thought beat him through the five-hole, but the Boston netminder had the puck behind his pads after it clanked off the post.

Bobrovsky made another important stop eight minutes into the final frame, holding both posts to keep out Charlie McAvoy’s driving attempt to the crease.

Neither team could cash in on a power-play attempt late in the third period, which included 22 overlapping seconds of 4-on-4.

–Field Level Media

Bruins Heading Home for Game 6

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SUNRISE – Boston’s Charlie McAvoy had a goal and an assist to help the Bruins stave off elimination with a 2-1 win against the Florida Panthers in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals on Tuesday night in Florida.

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The Panthers still lead the best-of-seven series 3-2 heading to Game 6 on Friday night in Boston.

Morgan Geekie also scored and Jeremy Swayman made 28 saves for the Bruins, who have never overturned a 3-1 series deficit in a best-of-seven set in 25 previous attempts.

Sam Reinhart scored and Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves for the Panthers, who had won three in a row to take command of the series.

Geekie gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead at 4:49 of the first period with his fourth goal of the playoffs.

Jake DeBrusk retrieved the puck behind the Florida net and passed it to Geekie driving toward the crease. Bobrovsky came off the goal line to attempt a save, but Geekie pulled the puck to his backhand and slid it into the net.

The Panthers were getting outshot 17-8 when Florida coach Paul Maurice gave his team a spirited pep talk during a timeout early in the second period.

Aleksander Barkov won the ensuing faceoff and the Panthers kept the puck in the Boston zone before Aaron Ekblad took a shot from the right point that hit Reinhart in the slot.

Swayman tried to poke the puck through the middle, but it went back to Reinhart, who banked his shot off the post and into the net to tie it 1-1 at 6:23.

McAvoy moved Boston back ahead 2-1 at 10:25 of the second.

Trent Frederic entered the Florida zone off a rush and passed the puck back to Charlie Coyle, who dropped it for McAvoy. The Boston defenseman had room to skate between the hashmarks and score with a wrist shot.

Boston forward Danton Heinen made contact with Bobrovsky just before McAvoy’s goal, prompting the Panthers to challenge for goalie interference, but the goal was upheld after a video review.

Bobrovsky kept it a one-goal deficit when he turned away DeBrusk on a breakaway with 5:35 left in the second period. He also stopped Pavel Zacha on a short-handed breakaway at 2:13 of the third.

Boston played its second straight game without team captain Brad Marchand, who was injured late in Game 3 on a hit to the head by the Panthers’ Sam Bennett. Marchand leads the Bruins in scoring during the postseason with 10 points (three goals, seven assists).

–Field Level Media

Marchand Out for Game 4

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Bruins captain Brad Marchand has been ruled out for Game 4 of the Eastern Conference second-round series versus the visiting Florida Panthers on Sunday with an upper-body injury.

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Marchand, a forward, received a hard check from Florida’s Sam Bennett in the first period of the Panthers’ 6-2 victory in Game 3 on Friday. Marchand logged 10:51 of ice time through two periods before sitting out the third for the Bruins, who trail 2-1 in the best-of-seven series.

Marchand, 36, did not participate in practice on Saturday. He has team-leading totals in assists (seven) and points (10) in 10 playoff games for Boston.

Bruins coach Jim Montgomery would not confirm or deny whether Marchand sustained a concussion on the hit.

“It can be (galvanizing); it has been and it should be tonight with who our captain is,” Montgomery said.

Marchand had 67 points (29 goals, 38 assists) in 82 games this season. He has 929 points (401 goals, 528 assists) in 1,029 career games since being selected by the Bruins in the third round of the 2006 NHL Draft.

–Field Level Media

Bruins Fall into a Hole

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The Florida Panthers built a four-goal lead and finished off a 6-2 win over the host Boston Bruins in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals on Friday. Evan Rodrigues scored twice, Brandon Montour had a goal and an assist, while Vladimir Tarasenko, Carter Verhaeghe also scored for Florida, which took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

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Matthew Tkachuk had three assists, while Aleksander Barkov added two assists as the Panthers went 4-for-6 on the power play. Panthers’ goalkeeper Sergei Bobrovsky needed to make only 14 saves in Florida’s net in an impressive defensive effort, as Boston recorded half of its 16 shots in the third period.

After the Bruins accumulated only seven shots by the halfway mark of the game, Jakub Lauko and Jake DeBrusk each scored in a 3:30 span in the third period to break up Florida’s 10-0 scoring run in the series. DeBrusk added an assist.

Prior to Florida’s dominating run of goals, no team had scored more than seven straight in this postseason.

Jeremy Swayman stopped 27 shots for the Bruins.

Boston captain Brad Marchand did not return for the third period due to an upper-body injury.

Pavel Zacha’s blind backhand pass allowed Florida to maintain offensive-zone possession and score the opening goal 8:04 into the first period. Gustav Forsling took a shot from above the left circle that Rodrigues deflected over Swayman’s shoulder from the doorstep.

Boston defenseman Mason Lohrei’s double-minor penalty for high sticking in the second period proved costly, leading to two Florida goals in exactly a minute.

Tarasenko made it 2-0 when he snapped off a wrist shot from the left circle that beat Swayman upstairs at 16:14 of the middle period. A minute later, Verhaeghe redirected Matthew Tkachuk’s centering pass over Swayman’s blocker for a 3-0 lead.

After Lauko was called for a questionable goaltender interference penalty on a net drive early in the third, Montour took advantage on the ensuing power play and ripped a top-shelf shot from the center point at 3:09 for a 4-0 lead.

A delayed penalty helped Boston get on the board at 5:01, as Lauko tucked a wrister over Bobrovsky off a DeBrusk feed to the left circle.

Lohrei sent a pass to DeBrusk for a hard shot from the left dot that brought Boston back within 4-2 at 8:31.

Reinhart’s empty-netter with 1:24 left punctuated the Florida win, and Rodrigues added on with a power-play tally inside the final minute.

–Field Level Media

Panthers Knot Series at 1-All

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SUNRISE – (Staff and wire Service Report) – Florida team captain Aleksander Barkov collected two goals and two assists to fuel the Panthers to a 6-1 victory over the Boston Bruins on Wednesday in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series.

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Sam Reinhart notched four assists and defenseman Brandon Montour scored a goal and set up two others to help the Panthers even the best-of-seven series with the Bruins at one victory apiece. Game 3 is Friday in Boston.

Fourth-liner Steven Lorentz, Eetu Luostarinen and defenseman Gustav Forsling also scored for Florida, which recorded six consecutive goals in a playoff game for the first time in franchise history. Sergei Bobrovsky made 14 saves in the win.

Jeremy Swayman, who turned aside 19 of 23 shots, yielded more than two goals for the first time in eight games this postseason. Linus Ullmark made eight saves in relief and Charlie Coyle scored a goal in the first period for the Bruins.

An unmarked Lorentz deftly deflected Montour’s shot from the point past Swayman to forge a 1-1 tie at 1:56 of the second period. The goal was the second of the playoffs for Lorentz, who had one tally in 38 games during the regular season.

Barkov gave the Panthers a 2-1 lead just under eight minutes later after gaining inside position on Boston defenseman Charlie McAvoy and cleaning up a rebound off a shot from Reinhart.

Forsling doubled the advantage after he dropped to a knee while blasting a shot past Swayman with two seconds remaining in the second period.

A turnover deep in Boston’s zone allowed Barkov to feed Luostarinen at the back post for an easy conversion and a 4-1 lead for the Panthers at 1:28 of the third period.

Barkov forced a turnover at the blue line and beat Ullmark at 10:52 of the third before feeding Montour at the doorstep just 66 seconds later. Barkov has four goals in his past three games.

Boston’s swarming forecheck resulted in Florida committing a turnover in its defensive end, leading to the game’s first goal with 7:48 remaining in the first period. Pavel Zacha executed a give-and-go with captain Brad Marchand before the latter backhanded a goal-mouth feed that Coyle converted for his first goal of the postseason.

–Field Level Media

Pastrnak Comes Through for Bruins

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Boston’s David Pastrnak scored 1:54 into overtime as the Bruins beat the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs 2-1 on Saturday night in Game 7 of an Eastern Conference first-round playoff series.

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Pastrnak raced up the right wing and scored off the carom of defenseman Hampus Lindholm’s lob off the corner boards, tucking a backhander between the left post and the skate of Toronto goaltender Ilya Samsonov (29 saves).

Lindholm finished with a goal and an assist, tallying Boston’s only marker in regulation just 1:21 after Toronto’s William Nylander opened the scoring at 9:01 of the third period.

Jeremy Swayman made 30 saves for Boston, which has now won seven consecutive playoff series against Toronto dating back to 1969 and will meet the Florida Panthers in the second round.

Game 1 of the Bruins’ next series is set for Monday night in Sunrise, Fla.

Samsonov got the start since Joseph Woll did not dress due to an undisclosed injury sustained in Game 6. Nearly midway through the third, Toronto scored the go-ahead goal off an in-zone sequence. After Boston defenseman Brandon Carlo slipped and lost the puck in the corner, Auston Matthews — who returned from a two-game absence (illness) — picked it up and dished it to an open Nylander for him to deposit into the back of the net.

The hosts wasted little time responding. Justin Brazeau’s backhand from the bottom of the right circle deflected over the net, but Lindholm got the puck on the opposite wing and flicked it in off the right post.

Boston combined for just three first-period shots in Games 5 and 6, but it got off to a much better start on Saturday, outshooting the Maple Leafs 11-9 through the first 20 minutes of action.

However, Toronto picked up the pace in the second, recording 12 shots to the Bruins’ seven.

Following a scoreless Boston power play, Toronto’s first and only man advantage — stemming from a Charlie Coyle cross-check at 4:36 of the second — resulted in strong pressure. The Bruins completed the kill, with Tyler Bertuzzi putting a shot on goal just as the power play was coming to an end.

Another key Swayman save came on Connor Dewar’s short-handed breakaway with 8:35 left in the period.

–Field Level Media

NHL Bruins: “Not Again”

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TORONTO – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Toronto’s William Nylander scored in the second and third periods as the Maple Leafs earned a 2-1 win over the visiting Boston Bruins on Thursday to even their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series at three victories apiece. Game 7 is set for Saturday night in Boston.

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Nylander broke the game’s long scoreless deadlock with 54.8 seconds left in the second before doubling Toronto’s lead on a breakaway with 2:13 to go in regulation. Morgan Rielly assisted on both goals.

Before netting his first goal, Nylander had been on a 13-game scoring drought dating back to the regular season.

Joseph Woll stopped 22 of the 23 shots he faced in his second straight start for the Maple Leafs, coming within 0.1 seconds of a shutout. He recorded 12 saves in the second period alone.

Morgan Geekie scored just before the final buzzer and Jeremy Swayman made 24 saves for the Bruins, who will play a first-round Game 7 after surrendering a 3-1 series lead for the second straight season.

Last year, the Bruins, who posted the NHL’s best record in the regular season, were ousted by the Florida Panthers in the opening round of the postseason.

Toronto played a tight game in the first period of a second straight game, holding a 12-1 shot advantage. Boston’s lone shot came on a Jake DeBrusk short-handed try at the 11:38 mark.

The Bruins’ penalty kill remained strong in the early going, especially when it was tasked with combating David Pastrnak’s double-minor penalty for high-sticking just 1:10 into the second. The hosts managed only two shots during the four-minute sequence.

Nylander’s go-ahead goal gave Toronto its first second-intermission lead of the series.

After Nylander was not called for a hit from behind on Boston defenseman Mason Lohrei that was followed by an immediate icing, Nylander curled at the right point, moved back into the circle and fired a wrist shot that deflected off a body in front and past a screened Swayman.

With a 1-0 lead, Woll thwarted one of Boston’s most dangerous stretches just before the 7:00 mark of the third. After Brad Marchand could not handle Geekie’s pass through to the crease, the Toronto netminder withstood a flurry and covered up two Charlie Coyle chances from tight range.

Just over a minute after Swayman stopped a Max Domi breakaway, a chip-out and Matthew Knies feed led to Nylander jumping ahead for a backhand finish that doubled the Toronto lead with 2:13 left in regulation.

Geekie knocked home the Bruins’ goal in the crease in the final tenth of a second.

–Field Level Media