Swayman explains attempted fight: Kuemper 'touched one of my guys'
Jeremy Swayman said he was defending teammate Marat Khusnutdinov when he challenged counterpart Darcy Kuemper to a fight during the second period of Sunday's tilt between the Boston Bruins and Los Angeles Kings.
Kuemper grabbed Khusnutdinov in a scrum in front of his net, prompting Swayman to leave his crease. The netminders were prepared to come to blows at center ice before officials stepped in.
"He touched one of my guys," Swayman said, per The Athletic's Fluto Shinzawa. "That's not something I’m going to accept. Kudos to him. He stepped up. It got broken up"
The Bruins trailed by a goal at the time of the fracas, and ultimately lost 7-2. Swayman was in net the entire game, and admitted he needs to rediscover his form.
"I want to give this team a chance to win every night, and I haven't done that the last two games," Swayman said. "That's something I'm going to work on. I'm not giving up. I'm keeping my chin up. I'm not getting the results right now. I owe these guys better. I owe a hell of a lot of people a lot better. That's exactly what I’m going to do.”
Swayman is 20-25-6 this season with an .892 save percentage after posting a .916 clip over the past three campaigns in a tandem with Linus Ullmark. The Bruins traded Ullmark last summer and signed Swayman to an eight-year, $66-million contract after a contentious negotiation that leaked into training camp.
Boston is six points back of a playoff spot with 10 games to go. The Bruins haven't missed the playoffs since 2015-16.