Boston Bruins Ullmark ‘Looks Better’, Slated To Start Vs. Sabres

The Boston Bruins have their goaltending plan for the week, and it includes Linus Ullmark making his first start for the B’s against his old Buffalo Sabres team.

Jeremy Swayman will get his second consecutive start between the pipes when he gets the starting bid on Wednesday against the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center, and Swayman gets the “revenge game” against his old team on Friday night at the First Niagara Center.

Swayman stopped 27-of-28 shots in last weekend’s home opening 3-1 win over the Dallas Stars after getting the starting honors at TD Garden, and the Boston Bruins expect to ride that momentum into Philly. Meanwhile Ullmark has put in some work after struggling to know the rust off during the preseason and looks like he’s ready for regular season game action.

“Swayman will go [Wednesday] and Ullmark on Friday. For those two games, they were each going to play a game. We liked Sway’s game in the opener against Dallas, so we’ll give them the net again. It wasn’t necessarily that Ullmark was absolutely going to get the start against Buffalo, but that’s the way we’re going. He knows them better than anybody.

“They probably know [Ullmark] better than anybody, so there’s always a flip side to those. Hopefully he’s ready to go. He’s looked better. Less active and probably more similar to the way he usually plays at the top of the crease. He looks like he’s battling and in a good place in the locker room. I’m sure he wants the net. Disappointed he didn’t get to the start, but as we said to them it’s a competition. When you get your chance, do what you need to do to stay in the net, so we don’t take you out. That’s the message to both [goaltenders].”

Otherwise, the Boston Bruins are expected to go with the same lineup as opening night at all other positions. The only update was on Curtis Lazar (upper body), who was able to avoid surgery for an injury suffered during the preseason but is still “week-to-week” and expected to miss a chunk of time to start the season. Karson Kuhlman has taken Lazar’s spot on the fourth line as he looks to add a bit more grease to his game entering his third NHL season.

Here’s the lineup at Tuesday’s Boston Bruins practice at Warrior ice Arena as they embark on their first road trip of the season:

Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak

Hall-Coyle-Smith

DeBrusk-Haula-Foligno

Frederic-Nosek-Kuhlman

Forbort-McAvoy

Reilly-Carlo

Grzelcyk-Clifton

Swayman

Ullmark