Kalman: Bruins' Svedberg Sharp With Skate Fixed, More Playing Time
BOSTON (CBS) - If adjusting to life as the backup goaltender hadn't been giving Bruins netminder Niklas Svedberg a hard enough time, his equipment made life a little more difficult Sunday.
Svedberg was able to recover from a skate blade problem and a Detroit Red Wings shot barrage to help the Bruins earn a 5-3 victory at TD Garden that completed a sweep of a home back-to-back over the weekend and extend the Bruins' run of consecutive games with a point to 4-0-1.
Svedberg was particularly under siege in the third period, when Detroit outshot Boston 17-7.
"Yeah, I mean we were expecting they were going to come with a push there," said Svedberg, who had a 4-1 lead to start the third. "I think obviously the second goal was a bad goal. Just a bad goal. You've got to move on and I think we responded with that goal there. And then they pressed pretty hard the rest of the game, which is natural because they were obviously losing the game.
"I think we stood up good and it felt like a big win for us."
The Bruins scored first 4:15 into the game. Just before the Red Wings tied it on a seeing-eye shot by Gustav Nyquist, Svedberg's skate blade hit the post. Typically that's not a big deal because when it hits the outside of the blade, Svedberg can go on no problem. But, for the first time in five or six years, Svedberg said, the inside of the blade caught post and the blade was blunted.
One shift after the goal, Svedberg made his way over the bench, where Bruins equipment manager Keith Robinson put his Sweet Stick skate sharpener tool to work to give Svedberg a temporary fix.
Svedberg didn't want to make an excuse but he admitted he "was a little bit worried for sure. It's not comfortable playing when you're skate's not 100 percent." He credited Robinson for a great job helping out, especially getting the skates right in the first intermission.
With confidence that his equipment wouldn't fail him again, Svedberg stood tall. Sure, Luke Glendening's goal that cut the Bruins' lead to 4-2 was the definition of soft. But all goalies have their blunders. The important thing is how they bounce back and Svedberg was 15-for-15 the rest of the way.
"There's a lot of pressure on a guy who hasn't played much," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "He won us a game in [New] Jersey [Feb. 27], he won us a game again tonight, and that's all we can ask from a guy like that who hasn't played much. And I think he made some good saves. ... Like I said, when you don't play much, maybe one trickles through you a little bit.
"But he made some big saves and I have to understand – or we have to understand – that in order to get through this we're going to need our backup goaltender to come up and play some games for us and not rely too, too much on Tuukka [Rask]."
The Bruins didn't rely on Svedberg at all for a while. He played three games in December and then one game in January. He got pulled from his first start after a conditioning assignment with Providence of the American Hockey League. It was the second time in three starts he got pulled.
The Bruins went with Malcolm Subban in net against the St. Louis Blues on Feb. 20 with disastrous results (three goals on six shots faced in a loss). Then Svedberg finally got another chance and beat New Jersey in overtime with 29 saves Feb. 27.
General manager Peter Chiarelli said a few hours after the NHL trade deadline passed that the Bruins didn't consider trading for goaltending help. Now they're getting it again from Svedberg, who now has a 2.43 goals-against average and .913 save percentage in 15 games.
Svedberg said it never crossed his mind that the Bruins weren't committed to him.
"Obviously we have Tuukka and he played unbelievable for us," Svedberg said. "So we're in a tight spot battling for a playoff spot. So there was a long stretch there where I didn't play a lot. But what are you going to do about that? That's in the past. We've got a lot of big games coming up, a tough schedule and I think it's a big week in here for us."
The Bruins don't have more than one day off between games for the next two weeks. Svedberg's acclimation to the No. 2 role (he played 93 regular-season games the past two seasons with Providence) will continue in high-pressure situations. The more he plays, the better he should get.
"...The more consistent you play, the better it is," Svedberg said. "You want to play more, obviously. That's what you play hockey for. It's always easier when you play more but that's the position I'm in right now. Just try to stay ready."
More playing time for Svedberg will give the people who pick the Three Stars at the Garden a better chance to become familiar with the goaltender.
After the win against Detroit, the Second Star was announced as defenseman Dennis Seidenberg, who wasn't much of a factor. The final game sheet listed Carl Soderberg, who had no points and lost more faceoffs than he won, as the Second Star.
Clearly someone got their Bruins "-bergs" mixed up, because Svedberg was the one that should've gotten the accolades. Well, there's always next time. And now Svedberg knows that with his improved play and the Bruins' heavy schedule, that next time will be soon.
Matt Kalman covers the Bruins for CBSBoston.com and also contributes to NHL.com and several other media outlets. Follow him on Twitter @TheBruinsBlog.
