Jim Montgomery Shares Timeline For Bruins’ Goaltender Decision
Jim Montgomery and his Bruins coaching staff have a big decision to make in the coming days.
With the regular season now in the books, all of Boston’s focus shifts to its Stanley Cup playoffs run, which begins with a first-round matchup against the Toronto Maple Leafs. It remains to be seen who will be in net for the Bruins on Saturday night at TD Garden, as well as the postseason tilts that follow.
Montgomery, per MassLive, indicated he was leaning toward maintaining the goalie rotation the Bruins successfully used all season. But asked Tuesday if he had locked into that plan — or his Game 1 starter — the Bruins head coach kept it brief.
“Nope,” Montgomery told reporters.
Boston’s bench boss also admitted he will “probably not” reveal his plans for in between the pipes before Saturday morning, so Black and Gold fans likely will have to wait until gameday to find out if it will be Linus Ullmark or Jeremy Swayman in the best-of-seven series opener against the Maple Leafs.
Ullmark earned the nod in the playoffs last year, which was a borderline given considering he was amid a Vezina Trophy-winning campaign. But Swayman arguably has been the better netminder this season, so Montgomery’s decision won’t be an easy one.