Bruins Notes: Boston’s Impressive Goaltending Comes At Key Time

The Boston Bruins blanked the Minnesota Wild behind brilliant goaltending by Jeremy Swayman on Tuesday night at TD Garden.

After a 22-save performance in the Bruins’ win over the New York Rangers, Swayman followed it up with a 35-stop shutout. It was Swayman’s third shutout of the season and the team’s sixth in 55 games.

“It’s really important. It’s important for our group and (the upcoming two-week break),” Swayman told reporters of the back-to-back wins, per team-provided audio. “And right before this break, end it strongly, and I think that we’re doing a good job in building momentum.”

The Bruins are in the middle of a battle for a playoff spot, and with 27 games remaining in the regular season, every point is crucial.

“Our opponents have brought some serious competition,” Swayman said. “Everyone’s fighting for points, and it’s our job to rise to the occasion and make sure that we’re getting really important points going down the stretch.”

Swayman made timely saves against the Wild, especially in the third period when the Bruins were penalized three straight times while holding a two-goal lead.

“It’s doing your job right,” Swayman said when asked how it feels to see the other team’s frustrations after making a save. “You want to deflate the other team, making sure they know it’s going to be hard to score on you.”

In the first period, Swayman and Marc-Andre Fleury matched each other save for save. Swayman stopped the first seven Minnesota shots he faced, while Fleury made 14 saves in the first 20 minutes.

“I thought Fleury did a great job at the end of the other end too,” Swayman said. “He’s having a ball doing it. It was really fun to compete with him.”

While Swayman remained perfect on the night, Fleury surrendered two goals to Charlie McAvoy and Trent Frederic in the second period before stopping the next 18 Bruins’ attempts. Boston held the lead, and Swayman stopped all 14 Minnesota shots in the third period to secure the win.

Here are more notes from Tuesday’s Bruins-Wild game:

— David Pastrnak extended his point streak to 11 games. He had the primary assist on McAvoy’s seventh goal of the season. The Bruins’ prolific goal scorer has 10 goals and 14 assists for 24 points in that span.

He became the fourth Bruins player in the past 30 years with an 11-game assist streak, joining Brad Marchand, Marc Savard and Adam Oates. Pastrnak trails only Jaromir Jagr (16 games) for the second-longest streak by a Czechia-borm player, per NHL Public Relations.

— Matthew Poitras extended his point streak to two games. He tallied two assists in the game to match the pair of helpers he had against the Rangers for four points in two contests.

— McAvoy scored two goals in back-to-back games for just the second time this season and the first since lighting the lamp in each of the Bruins’ first two games against the Florida Panthers and Canadiens. He now has seven goals and 15 assists across 48 games this season.

— The Bruins have two games left before the NHL’s 4 Nations Face-Off Tournament beginning Feb. 12. Boston travels to the Big Apple to take on the Rangers on Wednesday night.

Puck drop from Madison Square Garden is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET and will air on TNT. The Bruins’ next game on NESN will take place after the two-week break when they host the Anaheim Ducks on Feb. 22.