Is Swayman losing the Bruins playoff net?

Interestingly enough, though, it was the 25-year-old Swayman that generated much more interest from trade suitors given his age, current contract and the upside still left in his game as an NHL goalie just entering his prime years. But another twist has transpired in the second half of the season where Swayman has slumped a bit and Ullmark has been the one playing like an All-Star since not being moved at the early March trade deadline.

Swayman let up a pair of five-hole goals in Thursday night’s 5-2 loss to the Rangers at TD Garden and also wasn’t able to stop a backbreaking Adam Fox snipe scored just 40 seconds after Boston had tied the game in the third period.

Afterward Jim Montgomery expressed “surprise” and “disappointment” that his Bruins “didn’t compete hard enough for pucks” in a game that was the NHL’s point leader (Bruins) versus a team directly behind them (Rangers) in the standings. Montgomery also termed Swayman as “fine” during his postgame breakdown, but it wasn’t one of those games where the goaltender was demonstrably better than a bunch of players who were simply adequate in a game against the Blueshirts that they deserved to lose.

There was a bit more of a measured take from the goaltender himself after a game where he stopped 26-of-29 shots that he faced.

“I think we can do a better job of playing a 60-minute game and a lot of great learning lessons tonight for moving forward. Not happy with the loss, but a lot of great opportunities to get better from this,” said Swayman. “You don’t want to lose, but you want to trust the process, and that’s what happened tonight. I think, again, a lot of opportunities to learn from our mistakes and move forward as a team.”

The Bruins had a 1-0 lead after a strong first period, but the entire team’s level of play dropped in the second period before, during and after Artemi Panarin beat Swayman five-hole with a shot from the right circle with Pavel Zacha screening him in front. It was the kind of leaky goal that Swayman, and the Bruins goaltending duo in general, hasn’t allowed too often this season.

“It was kind of a broken play, and it went through a couple of skates,” said Swayman. “That’s one I could work on seeing through traffic and another opportunity to work on and make a save there so we can move on from that and finish off the period.”

The second goal was more about defensive breakdowns as a struggling Hampus Lindholm coughed up a puck behind the Boston net, and a Panarin bid bounced off a diving Jake DeBrusk before the puck went in again through Swayman’s pads.

Since the NHL All-Star break, Swayman is 6-5-1 with a 3.16 goals against average and .903 save percentage which are both well below his seasonal numbers.

In the month of March, Swayman has a .901 save percentage in five games while Linus Ullmark has posted a 3-1-1 record with a 2.19 goals against average and .922 save percentage in his five games this month. That is a stunning turnaround from a goalie that was outplayed by Swayman in the first half of the hockey season, and who may be looking at an uncertain future this summer if, or when, the B’s revisit talks to trade Ullmark.

At this point, the season totals for both Swayman and Ullmark are moving close to equal footing, and it feels like the scales are again tipping toward Ullmark getting the Game 1 start in the playoffs if it continues trending this way. That will open up an entirely different line of questioning given Ullmark’s career 3-5-0 record and .888 save percentage in the Stanley Cup playoffs, but the story for today is about two Bruins goaltenders trending in totally opposite directions just weeks ahead of the postseason.

Certainly the 30-year-old Ullmark looks like a completely different guy since learning he was sticking around after the NHL trade deadline. Ullmark immediately responded with a 38-save performance against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the wake of the deadline frenzy and has won every game played since then.

“It’s one of those things where it keeps you motivated because it’s so much fun playing against the best. There was a lot of outside noise [at the trade deadline] that just kind of faded away. Now you focus on the task at hand because for those uncertainties that you can’t have any answers to [are gone]. Once that is settled you can just focus on the task at hand,” said Ullmark. “Whatever happens down the stretch [with the goalie rotation] is out of our control and it’s about focusing on the task at hand.

“[The goalie rotation] has been working for us but I think it goes to show to the credit of [myself] and [Swayman] that we push ourselves and push each other every day trying to get better. We always have each other’s backs whether it’s a win or a loss.”

Nothing has been determined at this point, obviously, with 11 games remaining in the regular season and with the B’s decision-makers very much still open to a straight goalie rotation during the playoffs. It would be unconventional, to be a sure, and a bit counterintuitive if somebody stands on their head in a Game 1 situation, but it’s also worked to great results for Ullmark and Swayman over their “goalie hug” tandem years.

For a long time, it looked like Swayman was going to be the “no doubt” starter for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs, and that’s very much a developing situation as Ullmark plays like the Vezina version of himself down the stretch for the Black and Gold.