Jeremy Swayman injured as Bruins rally in overtime to beat Penguins -

PITTSBURGH — After the Bruins’ come-from-behind 6-5 overtime win over the Penguins on Tuesday, Jeremy Swayman stood in the hallway outside the PPG Paints Arena visitors’ room, talking on his phone. Aside from tape around his left knee, Swayman did not look terribly out of sorts. This aligns with how his partner views him.

“He’s from Alaska,” said Linus Ullmark. “I’m not too worried. The guy’s tough as nails.”

That Swayman was standing on both feet contrasted with how he left the game. In the third period, as Patrice Bergeron tried to cover Jake Guentzel in front of the net, the center fell and tumbled into Swayman skates first.

The goalie, who had been down in the butterfly, absorbed Bergeron’s impact on his left leg. At the same time, his left skate clanged into the post.

Swayman’s down and coming out of the game. Looks like Bergeron’s skate hit Sway’s left leg mid split forcing it to hyperextend. Not putting any pressure on his left leg. #NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/2MSGmfaZ6o

— Mr. Tenkrat (@PeterTenkrat) November 2, 2022

Once Bergeron saw his goalie down and out, he waved over trainer Dustin Stuck, who scurried onto the ice. Swayman stayed down.

After he got up, Swayman did not put any weight on his left leg. As soon as he reached the tunnel behind the bench, Swayman leaned heavily on physical therapist Joe Robinson as he limped to the locker room.

Swayman was only playing because one period earlier, coach Jim Montgomery had hooked Linus Ullmark. The Penguins had pumped five pucks past the starting goalie, the last being a clear-sighted Rickard Rakell wrister that sailed into the net.

After he waved Ullmark over, Montgomery made one thing clear: None of the 5-2 deficit was on Ullmark.

“I needed to slow down the game there,” Montgomery said. “I didn’t want to burn a timeout. Because we weren’t giving up a multitude of chances. We had big breakdowns in the middle of the ice, which is usually our strength. I just went over to him in the timeout and said, ‘Not one goal is your fault. Don’t worry about it. I need to slow the game down.’”

Swayman was coming in hot. His previous start was the sharpest of his three: a 28-save sparkler in a 5-1 Oct. 27 win over Detroit. On Tuesday, he looked just as good as he did against the Red Wings, stopping four out of four shots in relief.

But when Swayman had to struggle off the ice with the Bruins trailing 5-3, Ullmark had no choice but to go back in. He looked like a different goalie than the one who’d gotten yanked earlier.

He stopped all eight shots he saw in the third period, plus three more in overtime. Ullmark made his best save on Josh Archibald’s high-glove snapper in the third period when the Bruins were still down 5-3.

“Hockey’s hockey,” Ullmark said. “Some days you have a shutout. (The) next day you can be pulled. It doesn’t matter. It’s a very humbling league. I’ve never seen a situation like this develop. It’s very unfortunate the way it did develop. Because I thought Sway did a great job in there.”

Ullmark’s second go-around set the table for the Bruins’ comeback. Pavel Zacha tipped Hampus Lindholm’s shot past Tristan Jarry at 11:59 of the third, making it a 5-4 game. Then with Ullmark off for a sixth attacker, Taylor Hall banged home the rebound of a David Pastrnak point shot with 1:17 remaining in regulation.

“We weren’t getting run out of the building by any means,” Hall said. “They scored on some nice plays. A couple (of) breakdowns. We felt if we could just claw back into the game shift by shift, we’d put ourselves in a spot to pull the goalie at the end and make a play. It’s a huge win. Not that we’re not confident (that we would) win. But to show that when you’re down three, you just keep chugging along.”

In overtime, Lindholm took over. After Bergeron won a defensive-zone draw, Lindholm wheeled around his net to gain separation from Bryan Rust. With Rust in his rearview mirror, Lindholm peeled into the offensive zone, challenged Marcus Pettersson one-on-one and fired the winner past Jarry.

“It’s amazing,” Montgomery said. “They believe in there. It was 5-3 there in the third. I’m sitting there and we’re generating chances. I just love the fight in this team. It was like nine minutes left. I’m like, ‘It might not be our night.’ But Jesus, it was.”

Notes:

1. Jakub Lauko scored his first career NHL goal at 13:20 of the first period. The rookie believed he had scored his first against Arizona on Oct. 15. But it was waved off after Nick Foligno was called for goalie interference. So on Tuesday, after the referees confirmed it was a good goal, Foligno chased down the puck for Lauko.

“You better. He took the first goal for me against Arizona,” Lauko said with a laugh. “He’s a really good guy. I call him Uncle Nick.”

Lauko has special plans for the puck. Two years ago, his teammate and close friend Ondrej Buchtela died of cancer. During Buchtela’s illness, Lauko promised his friend he would make the NHL.

“My dad and mother are, I’m not going to say angry, maybe disappointed a little bit. (The puck is) going to go to his mother,” Lauko said. “Because I promised to him and promised to his family as well. It’s going to go to them. He died two years ago of cancer. It was quick. We were really close. Growing up, we were playing together. He was a really good hockey player too. Talented. “

2. Bergeron played in his 10th game, earning a $2.5 million bonus.

3. Derek Forbort exited after the first period and did not return because of an upper-body injury. The defenseman was credited with five first-period hits.

(Photo of Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman being assisted from the ice: Charles LeClaire / USA Today)

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