BUFFALO, N.Y. — Jeremy Swayman, as usual, had things under control. The Boston Bruins goalie had smothered an Alex Tuch third-period shot. Swayman was waiting for the whistle.
Zach Benson was not.
The Buffalo Sabres forward jabbed Swayman in hopes of jostling the puck loose. Nikita Zadorov didn’t like it. The 6-foot-7, 255-pound defenseman drove the 5-foot-10, 177-pound Benson to the ice. Zadorov’s message was clear: Leave Swayman alone.
“When I grew up, all my coaches were telling me to protect my goalie,” Zadorov said after Tuesday’s 4-2 Game 2 win. “So when somebody slashes my goalie, that’s my job to step in. If they want to keep doing it, they’re going to keep getting it. That’s how it is.”
In retrospect, some of the fallout did not lean in the Bruins’ favor. Zadorov (roughing, 10-minute misconduct) was off to the penalty box for 12 minutes. So was Andrew Peeke, who had taken over the fun of tangling with Benson.
The Bruins were up 4-0. Referees Eric Furlatt and Kendrick Nicholson issued their 12-minute edicts (similar punishments came down for Benson and Tage Thompson) with the aim of setting the discipline standard and discouraging additional nonsense. It did not help, then, that the Bruins were missing two defensemen when the Sabres initiated their rally.
“In the moment, not necessarily,” Peeke said when asked if he understood why he’d earned a 12-minute cooldown. “I went back to the bench. I didn’t even know I was in the box to begin with. But I went back to the box and figured I was out there scrapping it up for a bit out there. Figured that was the reason why.”
The Bruins were fortunate that Swayman, with third-period assistance from Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm, pushed back hard enough to limit Buffalo’s surge to two goals. Lindholm led all players with 27:40 of ice time, including 12:21 in the third. Coach Marco Sturm cracked that for once, he saw some color in his defenseman’s cheeks because of the strain of his third-period assignment.
But if the Sabres continue to trespass in Swayman’s territory in Game 3, the Bruins will be happy to push back. During the regular season, the Bruins were No. 2 in penalty minutes. The Sabres were seventh. The Bruins had 34 majors compared to the Sabres’ 23.
“We’re going to defend our goalie,” Tanner Jeannot said. “If there’s some shots on him that we don’t like, obviously we’re going to defend him. We need to be smart about it. We don’t want to be putting ourselves short-handed. It’s something we’re going to talk about. We’re always going to be there for our goalie. There’s no question about that.”
Jeannot played the part of the principal in the third period. He had a long discussion with Josh Dunne following the third-period fracas. Jeannot did not share the nature of the conversation. But he considers himself a deterrent. The Sabres would be wise not to escalate hostility when the 6-2, 221-pound heavyweight is in the neighborhood.
“It’s something I can do,” the no-nonsense Jeannot said. “If I can do a job for my team, I’m going to do that. That’s my only focus. If I can do something to stop my teammates from getting taken advantage of, then I’m going to do that.”
Jeannot and Zadorov are at the tip of the spear when it comes to muscle-flexing. The same goes for Mark Kastelic. On Wednesday, the 6-4, 234-pound forward was bearing a cut on the bridge of his nose and a purple blotch. They were the aftermath of his third-period fight with 6-7, 231-pound Logan Stanley, which took place following McAvoy’s wipeout of Beck Malenstyn.
“It’s just fun to have those nerves and have that energy every game,” Kastelic said. “Everything feels so much more magnified. There’s no moment too small.”
Through two games, it is no secret that Swayman is at the peak of his powers. If he sees the puck, he will stop it. Buffalo’s mandate, then, is to disrupt the ace’s vision. Sending bodies not just into his sightlines but into his kitchen will be their Game 3 task.
Sturm knows it will come.
“We have the size on our back end to give him the view, what he needs to have,” the Bruins coach said. “They’re going to push. We know that. As long as we manage the puck very well, as long as we keep them on the outside, it’s going to be a good thing. The good thing about Sway is we know he’s going to have the first shot all the time. We’ve just got to make sure we clean house.”
