The Boston Bruins took an early lead in their first-round playoff series against the Toronto Maple Leafs with a 5-1 victory on Saturday. Boston coach Jim Montgomery has yet to announce who will start in goal for Game 2, scheduled for Monday at 7 p.m. ET on NESN and ESPN.
Jeremy Swayman played well in Game 1, making 35 saves and allowing just one goal. Linus Ullmark is also an option to start, as he has been alternating with Swayman in goal for the Bruins for the past 26 games.
Montgomery has not steered away from his tried-and-true goalie rotation for months now, but he did not tip his hand about his decision for Game 2.
“It’s gonna be hard to go away from ‘Sway.’ He played a terrific game,” Montgomery said on Saturday. “Like we said, if we decide to go with Ullmark, we’re comfortable with it. And our team’s comfortable with it. It doesn’t affect us in the room, whoever starts next game.”
The Maple Leafs will look to quickly move past a less-than-inspiring Game 1 that was played without second-leading scorer William Nylander (undisclosed injury). Nylander’s presence leaves a gaping hole of 40 goals and 98 points in the regular season out of the playoff lineup.
Fourth-liner David Kampf scored the lone goal for Toronto, which was 0-for-3 on the power play and 3-for-5 killing penalties. The likes of Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner were held off the scoresheet, as Matthews was unable to cash in on a potential game-tying opportunity with Swayman well out of his crease early in the second period.
Keefe did not offer any day-off updates about Nylander’s status and whether Ilya Samsonov or Boston College product Joseph Woll would start in goal on Monday. Samsonov made 19 saves on 23 shots in the series opener, which included allowing a goal on Boston’s first shot.
