Boston Bruins interim head coach Joe Sacco pulled goaltender Jeremy Swayman after a tough first period against the Ottawa Senators. Swayman, who signed an eight-year, $66 million contract in October 2024, allowed four goals on 15 shots. Joonas Korpisalo replaced him to start the second period.
When asked if the move was to spark the team, Sacco said it was not just about Swayman.
"Yeah, I think so. That’s not just on Sway, obviously — that’s on everyone," Sacco said postgame. "We were just trying to give the team a lift there."
Sacco also pointed out that the Bruins made mistakes with the puck:
"I think a lot of it was self-inflicted," Sacco said. "Our decisions with the puck at times weren’t accurate. We needed to reduce the risk in how we were handling the puck, and we didn’t do a good enough job of that."
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The Bruins could not recover from the early struggles and lost 6-3. Drake Batherson led the Senators with two goals and an assist. Brady Tkachuk extended his point streak to eight games.
Boston had won two straight games before this loss. They are now two points behind the Columbus Blue Jackets for the final Eastern Conference Wild Card spot.
Coach Joe Sacco pointed out mistakes in Boston Bruins' first period play
Shane Pinto scored first for the Ottawa Senators at 3:44 of the first period, beating Jeremy Swayman with a quick shot. Tyler Kleven made it 2-0 at 9:09 with a slap shot over Swayman’s right shoulder. Casey Mittelstadt responded for the Boston Bruins at 10:57 to cut the lead to 2-1.
Drake Batherson restored Ottawa’s two-goal lead at 16:21, one-timing a pass from Tkachuk on a power play. Ridly Greig tipped a Shane Pinto shot and buried his rebound at 16:43 to extend the lead to 4-1.
“We just weren’t good enough in most of the facets in the first period,” Sacco said via NHL.com. “Our execution wasn’t quite there; we weren’t sharp, our passing was off, and because of that, they got us back on our heels and then took the play to us in the first period."
David Pastrnak made it 4-2 for the Boston Bruins at 6:59 of the second, scoring a shot past Linus Ullmark. Batherson struck again at 11:01, scoring off a rebound. Marat Khusnutdinov got his first goal with Boston to make it 5-3.
Claude Giroux sealed the 6-3 win with an empty-net goal at 18:44 of the third.
The Boston Bruins will look to return to winning ways when they host the Tampa Bay Lightning next at TD Garden on Saturday.
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