Jeremy Swayman

Just 24, Jeremy Swayman’s hockey journey already has delivered the Anchorage native no small amount of pucks prosperity.

He parlayed one strong season on a bad team in the U.S. Hockey League into an ample reason the Boston Bruins made him a fourth-round draft pick in 2017 and the University of Maine offered him a scholarship. In three seasons with the Black Bears, he developed into an All-American goaltender and Hockey East’s Player of the Year, all of which landed him a three-year, $3.15 million entry-level contract with the Bruins.

Swayman debuted in the NHL at 22 and has racked 55 career wins and nine shutouts in two-plus seasons. He was the All-Rookie goalie in the world’s best league last season and combined with crease-mate Linus Ullmark this season to win the William M. Jennings Trophy as the league’s stingiest goalie tandem. The duo backstopped Boston to the best regular season in league history and the Presidents’ Trophy.

And Swayman’s 2.24 career goals-against average and .920 save percentage are significantly better than the league averages in that span.

Yet the pendulum swings both ways in sports.

Sunday night, prosperity gave way to pain for Swayman and company.

They lost 4-3 in overtime to the Florida Panthers in Game 7 of the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. On home ice. In arguably the greatest upset in Cup history – Florida triumphed despite racking 45 fewer regular-season points than the Boston team it ushered from the playoffs – the Bruins wasted a historic season.

Paging Dr. Heimlich.

“Chokes hurt,’’ wrote Fluto Shinzawa, the Bruins beat reporter for The Athletic.

“Boston gets to put the Presidents’ Trophy in a golf cart,’’ wrote Sean Gentille of The Athletic.

Sunday proved Upset City in the NHL. After Boston bonked, the second-year Seattle Kraken eliminated the defending Cup champion Colorado Avalanche in Game 7.

Swayman, given the Game 7 start after Ullmark struggled through six games, stopped 27 of 31 shots. He was OK. Fine, not great. The first goal he surrendered was one he’d like back – Brandon Montour’s backhander off the rush zipped through Swayman’s five-hole while he was deep in his crease. (Of course, as former Alaska Aces coach Rob Murray once mused about goalies: “You know which ones they want back? Every f—in’ one).

Then again, Swayman snuffed Matthew Tkachuk’s breakaway in extra time and he also turned away a great OT chance by Carter Verhaeghe, who later roofed a rocket over Swayman’s left shoulder to end things. For context, Swayman’s start was his first in 17 days, and it’s difficult to be razor-sharp after two and a half weeks off. The Athletic reported he was just the sixth masked man in NHL history to start a Game 7 after not starting any of the previous six games in a series.

None of that soothes the pain, though. This one will sting for weeks, months. The Bruins were left to lament what might have been. They were 59.3 seconds away from advancing before Montour’s extra-attacker goal deflected off the stick of Boston defenseman Charlie McAvoy and beat Swayman on the short side. Now they are left to wonder whether Sunday also proved a sad send-off for revered captain Patrice Bergeron, their leader, their conscience, and a Boston icon.

That’s a lot of baggage.

As for Swayman and company, they’ve endured first-round, Game 7 pain in consecutive seasons. Swayman stopped 28 of 31 shots last May, when Boston fell at Carolina, 3-2, in a series finale after Swayman started the last five games of the series following losses in Game 1 and 2 with Ullmark in net.

Swayman becomes a arbitration-eligible, restricted free agent this offseason, and he’s due a substantial raise. Based on comparable goalies in terms of age, experience and production, he appears to warrant, at minimum, a tripling of his entry-level deal and perhaps something near $4 million a season.

Swayman’s next contract should furnish financial security.

Still, athletes want to win.

Only time soothes the pain, and then only partially.

The real remedy is redemption.

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