MILAN – Well, that was probably Jeremy Swayman’s last start of the Olympics.
Despite Jake Oettinger backstopping the U.S. at last year’s 4 Nations Face-Off, the Dallas Stars goalie has been relegated to the third goalie spot to start the Olympics.
On Saturday night, in a game the Americans should have skated easily to the finish line of a blowout, the Boston Bruins goalie gave up a couple big-time softies, including one goal from the other side of the red line near Denmark’s bench, before the United States survived a group stage game by rallying for a 6-3 win.
Matt Boldy, Brady Tkachuk, Jack Eichel, Noah Hanifin, Jake Guentzel and Jack Hughes scored for the United States and Swayman made 18 saves.
But Swayman, maybe lulled to sleep in the second period with the play largely spent in Denmark’s end, gave up a bad goal with 2.6 seconds left in the period to turn the game into a one-goal nailbiter entering the third before Guentzel and Hughes took care of business.
The U.S. got much-needed insurance goals, first, from its 4 Nations leading goal scorer, Guentzel, when Auston Matthews scooped up a loose puck in the slot and teed up Guentzel for a one-timer, then Hughes after he sped around a defender and banked a puck off the skate of Frederik Dichow, who replaced Mads Sogaard a few minutes earlier.
U.S. coach Mike Sullivan hasn’t really provided a specific reason why Swayman has overtaken Oettinger as the No. 2 other than that he’s had a good year in Boston. The American brass could have also determined that Swayman earned the role by leading the United States to its first World Championship gold medal last spring by going 7-0 with a 1.69 goals-against average and .921 save percentage.
Nevertheless, Swayman probably saw the net for the final time despite something unforeseen.
The United States plays its final prelim game Sunday night against Germany, which was upset by Latvia on Saturday.
This story will be updated.