The Boston Bruins are turning to Linus Ullmark between the pipes to try and take a 2-0 lead over the Toronto Maple Leafs Monday night.
The Bruins had the luxury of picking and choosing between Game 1 starter Jeremy Swayman and the reigning Vezina Trophy winner Ullmark all regular season, with the former starting 43 games between the pipes and the latter getting the call for the other 39 regular season contests.
But after Swayman got the net in Game 1, Bruins coach Jim Montgomery is switching things up for Game 2.
The coach was keeping his cards close to the vest while meeting with reporters Monday as to who would get the start.
“I don’t know why we’d divulge information. If you’re preparing (for) a game, there’s parts of a goaltender that are part of your pre-scout,” he said. “So that’s an advantage for us.”
Ullmark posted a 22-10-7 record, 2.57 goals-against average and .915 save percentage.
Meanwhile, Swayman finished the regular season with a 25-10-8 record, a 2.53 goals-against average and a .916 save percentage.
Last playoffs, Ullmark started the first six games of Boston’s series against the Florida Panthers, reportedly playing through injury in the series before being replaced by Swayman in Game 7.
So after leaning on one goalie a year ago, how Montgomery handles his two goalies against the Maple Leafs in Round 1 is worth monitoring.
But for Monday night, he’s taking a different approach than he did one year ago.
