It’s been a fascinating case study of different circumstances on different teams to watch the Bruins’ players perform during the Olympic tournament thus far, with varying degrees of deployment and effectiveness.
Jeremy Swayman got the start for Team USA that he’d been waiting for on Saturday night against Team Denmark, and Swayman and the Americans ended up getting the all-important win. But it wasn’t easy as Swayman allowed three goals on 21 shots and the USA was down by a 2-1 score at the end of the opening period before opening up their awesome arsenal of explosive offense on the unwitting Danish. Unfortunately for Swayman, he played a major role in Team USA having a big hole to dig itself out of after the opening 20 minutes.
Certainly, the knives were out for Swayman on social media after Denmark scored a couple of fluky goals in the first period, including one from just inside center ice that will end up being an embarrassing Olympic memory for life.
Swayman talked about the long-distance shot that beat him early in the game, where he insisted that he lost the puck through a flash screen.
“No [I didn’t see it], it was a flash screen. It was just the perfect height, right between the stands and board level. I truly lost it,” said Swayman to reporters after the game. “No matter how they go in, you have to step up and stop the next one.”
“Definitely one I want back, but at the same time, especially at this level, you’ve got to stay even keeled. It’s one shot at a time, and no matter how they go in, you’ve got to step up and stop the next one. Just really proud of this group for supporting me and getting the job done tonight.”
As a Bruins fan it stings to see Swayman stink it up. I will point out that the boards behind the puck are black, maybe he lost sight of the puck because of it. Guy has to be better. A lot better.
pic.twitter.com/q98IGoHMrn
— Berkley Stevens (@BerkleyStevens_) February 14, 2026
Credit where it’s due, Swayman rebounded in the final 40 minutes to put Team USA in a position to win the game.
But one would expect that Connor Hellebuyck is probably going to get the net for Sunday’s showdown with Team Germany for the top seed coming out of Pool C, and that Team USA will be looking to be a lot sharper overall after running head-long into some adversity on Saturday against a Denmark team that seemed highly motivated going up against Team USA after watching Greenland become a political football over the last few months.
Charlie McAvoy played a solid 21:35 of ice time in Saturday’s win with a plus-1 rating and didn’t shy away from the rough stuff that’s been his calling card while skating for the Red, White and Blue.
Team Sweden has had an erratic journey thus far, with a couple of wins and a loss to rival Finland earlier this week, and the Bruins players were swept up in some lineup changes for the Saturday 5-3 win over Slovakia in Milan Cortina. Elias Lindholm was pulled from the Swedish lineup in a game that the Swedes had to win by at least three goals in order to win Group B, and Hampus Lindholm was in the lineup for his first action of the tournament.
Unfortunately for Lindholm, he was the seventh D-man for Sweden and didn’t get a single shift in the winning effort for his country while Lucas Raymond and Elias Pettersson put on an offensive show for the Swedes. Amazingly, Slovakia actually won Group B as Sweden needed to put up a three-goal spread against Slovakia if they wanted to overtake them to win their group, so Slovakia gets the automatic bid into the medal round.
David Pastrnak continues to lead a solid Czechia team that beat France on Friday night with No. 88 finishing with a goal and two points, including a slick feed to Martin Necas for a bombed one-timer to open up the scoring. It conjures up images of what B’s fans might have watched had the Black and Gold been able to pony up a competitive trade offer when Necas was on the block a couple of seasons ago.
Pastrnak finished with a plus-1 rating and a couple of shots on net in 19:19 of ice time while counting to bounce back from a spanking handed out by Team Canada on the opening night of the tournament.
Perhaps the biggest star of this weekend, however, is Bruins prospect
