Bruins Bounce Back Big with Shutout Victory Over Jets

WINNIPEG -Jeremy Swayman was terrific, making 36 saves, to lead the Bruins to a 3-0 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday night at Canada Life Centre, as Boston snapped a two-game skid in the third end of a five-game road trip.
"He was terrific," said Jim Montgomery. "That might have been his best game of the year…and he's had a lot of good ones."

Video: BOS@WPG: Swayman blanks Jets with 36 saves

Swayman stole the show on Thursday night stopping each shot he faced for his eighth career shutout, second in his past seven starts and third of the season. "We expect a lot out of ourselves each night and it's really special to get this bounce back win," said Swayman. "It was a good team win…we're excited about it."
Swayman was specifically unstoppable on all five penalty kills. "It's just our four outworking their five," said the humble Swayman. "Making sure that I saw pucks and cleared out rebounds, they did a great job of that."
Swayman was coming off two straight losses, one in Detroit and the other back home vs. the Oilers. "The goaltenders were not excused from needing a reset," said Montgomery. "I think our whole team needed a reset, and our goalies are a huge part of the success we've had all year and our team went into a little bit of a funk there, hopefully we're done with it."
Per NHL Stats, Swayman's eight shutouts rank third in Bruins history among goaltenders under the age of 25, behind Frank Brimsek (16) and Tuukka Rask (11). The victory was also the 47th of his career, which puts him in a tie for second among Bruins goalies under 25 with Rask, trailing only Brimsek (64).

A Hot Start

After losing their rhythm in their last four games, the Bruins had been adamant about fixing their slow starts. The effort to fix that showed Thursday night as the Bruins wasted no time getting back on track when, in the first minute of the first period, Trent Frederic fired one for his 15th goal of the season to give the Bruins the early 1-0 lead. The tally secured Frederic's first career 15-goal season.
The assist came from Tyler Bertuzzi, who found Frederic open from behind the net, giving him his third assist in the six games he has played as a Bruin.
Halfway through the first, Pavel Zacha shot a dart right past Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck for his 18th goal of the season, giving the B's a nice 2-0 lead after 20. The 18 goals are a new career-high for Zacha, who previously posted 17 for the New Jersey Devils in 2020-21.
"Turning around and winning against a really good team is something that we wanted to accomplish today," said Zacha.

Injury Update

Derek Forbort blocked a hard shot in the second period and did not return for the third. It is unlikely we will see him for the remaining two games of the trip, per Montgomery. "We're going to get him evaluated [Friday] morning again just to see what exactly it is," said Montgomery. "But we know he's not going to be a player for probably the rest of this trip."