Bruins road trip takeaways: Swayman's performance just not good enough

The Boston Bruins just wrapped up a tough five-game road trip. It was probably their most challenging road trip of the season when you consider its length and the quality of opponents faced.

The trip could not have started any worse for the Bruins as they lost 8-1 to the Winnipeg Jets and 5-1 to the Seattle Kraken. The B's did bounce back with a 5-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks and a 4-3 overtime victory against the Calgary Flames.

The trip concluded Thursday night in Edmonton, where the Bruins held a 2-0 lead in the first period but lost 3-2 in overtime. Connor McDavid scored the tying goal with just 2:21 left in the third period.

Taking five out of a possible 10 points isn't a horrible road trip, especially when you consider how it began.

The Bruins will be back in action Saturday against the Buffalo Sabres at TD Garden. But first, let's look at three takeaways from the five-game road trip.

Jeremy Swayman needs to play a lot better

The Bruins aren't going to go very far this season if No. 1 goalie Jeremy Swayman doesn't play at a higher level. Sure, the B's would probably still make the playoffs, but winning a round would be quite a challenge.

The Bruins do not have much scoring depth. They are not going to win a lot of high-scoring matchups. The best path to victory for this Boston roster is low-scoring games where top-tier defense and goaltending lead the way.

Swayman entered the season as one of the league's top 10 goalies. He's played nowhere near that level so far, posting an 11-10-3 record, a .887 save percentage and a 3.13 GAA in 24 starts. To put those numbers in context, Swayman has never finished a season with a sub-.914 save percentage. His GAA is currently 0.60 higher than last season.

Swayman started four of the five games on this road trip. He finished with a .856 save percentage and a 3.67 GAA. Giving up a career-high eight goals against the Jets in the first game of the trip in Winnipeg didn't help those numbers, but he also gave up three goals in both Calgary and Edmonton.

Connor McDavid's goal to tie the score late in the third period Thursday was a tough one for Swayman to give up. He needs to make this save.

It gets worse, though.

Swayman has saved 12.5 goals below expected this season, which ranks dead last (86th out of 86) among all qualifying goalies, per MoneyPuck. He ranked No. 4 in goals saved above expected in the 2023-24 regular season and No. 1 in this category during the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs. So, again, another steep dropoff from last season.

There's still plenty of time for Swayman to turn things around. It certainly didn't help him or the team that he missed all of training camp and the preseason due to a contract dispute. But he's had 24 starts already. There's no excuses now. The Bruins won't make a deep playoff run if their $66 million goaltender plays far below expectations.

Playoff race is tight despite positive results for Bruins

The Bruins entered Friday with a 17-13-4 record and 38 points, putting them in the first wild card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference standings. They are tied for third place in the Atlantic Division with the Tampa Bay Lightning, who have played four fewer games.

Here's what the wild card standings look like as of Dec. 20:

1. Boston Bruins: 17-13-4, 38 points (34 GP)

2. Ottawa Senators: 17-13-2, 36 points (32 GP)

Pittsburgh Penguins: 15-14-5, 35 points (34 GP)

Philadelphia Flyers: 14-15-4, 32 points (33 GP)

Even though the Bruins have won six of their last nine games and have taken points from seven of them, they are still in a tough playoff battle.

The Senators, thanks in large part to ex-Bruins netminder Linus Ullmark's resurgence, have played much better of late and are back in the playoff mix after winning seven of their last 10 games. The Penguins also have a 7-2-1 record in their last 10 games.

The good news for the Bruins is no team is running away with the Atlantic. The Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers are tied atop the division standings with 42 points apiece, just four ahead of the B's.

The Bruins have righted the ship after an 8-9-3 start that cost previous head coach Jim Montgomery his job. But there's still a lot of work left for the Bruins to increase their chances of earning a playoff spot.

The B's have the seventh-toughest remaining schedule, and their January slate is loaded with matchups against quality opponents, including the Leafs, Oilers, Lightning (twice), Panthers, Jets, Avalanche and Devils. Boston also plays the surprisingly good Washington Capitals twice before New Year's Day.

The next five to six weeks is a critical time for the Bruins.

Offense still needs a spark; time to call up Matt Poitras?

The Bruins looked a bit better offensively at times during the road trip. A 5-1 win over the Canucks and a 4-3 overtime victory against the Flames were impressive.

David Pastrnak led the attack in both games with four points (one goal, three assists) in Vancouver and the game-winning goal in Calgary. Morgan Geekie is starting to find his groove, too, with six points (four goals, two assists) in his last seven games. Elias Lindholm has tallied a point in three consecutive games -- the first time he's done that since early November.

But the Bruins are still finding it difficult to score goals consistently. They generated only one goal in ugly losses to the Jets and Kraken to begin the road trip, and then scored just twice in Thursday's overtime defeat to the Oilers.

The Bruins rank 27th out of 32 teams with 2.59 goals scored per game. Boston's power play ranks 31st with a 12.7 percent success rate. Charlie Coyle, Trent Frederic, Justin Brazeau, Cole Koepke and Nikita Zadorov all failed to tally a single point during the five-game road trip.

The Bruins waived veteran forward Tyler Johnson earlier this week. He wasn't a making an impact, so it made sense to part ways. The B's claimed 2018 first-round pick Oliver Wahlstrom off waivers last Saturday, but it remains to be seen whether he can be a reliable offensive player. He tallied just four points in 27 games for the Islanders before being waived.

One move that could provide a scoring spark is calling up Matthew Poitras from the AHL. The B's sent Poitras down to the Providence Bruins after he had a slow start to the season. He's been borderline unstoppable for the P-Bruins of late with a seven-game goal streak.

Poitras not only has a good shot, he's a talented playmaker, too. The Bruins could use him at center or on the wing, and maybe give him an opportunity to jumpstart their lackluster power play.

Poitras is just 20 years old, and it's great for the Bruins that he's building some confidence in Providence. There's no immediate need to bring him back to Boston, but if the Bruins continue to struggle offensively over the next few weeks, calling up Poitras should be one of the first moves made.