Bruins’ Jeremy Swayman Offers Blatant Stance On Controversial Panthers’ Goal
BOSTON — Jeremy Swayman had another night where he played well, just on the losing end of a tough defeat for the Bruins.
The Bruins watched a 2-0 lead slip away as the Florida Panthers stormed back for a 3-2 win in Game 4 of the second-round series. Florida now holds a 3-1 series lead on the heels of a game-changing call in its favor.
The Bruins led 2-1 to start the third period before Florida’s Sam Bennett, who already made his stamp on the series for an injury-inflicting shot on Brad Marchand, tied the score. The goal faced a challenge after Bennett cross-checked Boston’s Charlie Coyle into Swayman before flicking the puck into the net past the Bruins goaltender.
Swayman took the chance to share his angle on the goal and made his thoughts clear when speaking after the Bruins’ loss.
“I don’t think progress was impeded,” Swayman told reporters after the Bruins’ loss. “I just think that we could have prevented that. The fact is that (Charlie) Coyle was pushed into me and I couldn’t play my position. That’s that. … I just want to stick to facts. The fact is that my own player was pushed into me by theirs and I couldn’t play my position.”
Swayman continued: “I know that our guys aren’t going to call challenge unless they know it’s going to get reversed,” Swayman stated. “The fact is that I couldn’t play my position. … In the moment, I didn’t know what happened. I just know that I couldn’t play my position. The review showed that.”
The Bruins goaltender did not mix words on his perception of a goal that, if it hadn’t already, flipped the momentum of the game that ended with Florida one win away from a second-straight trip to the conference finals.
Several calls from the referees heavily impacted the story of Sunday night’s game in Boston. The Bruins will have to overcome those breaks in order to come back from the series deficit in historic fashion.