Bruins' Jeremy Swayman has every reason to be furious with teammates

The Bruins were not only a mess defensively in their own zone, but they were guilty of countless egregious turnovers that fed Buffalo's transition game, and had zero pushback for what a younger, faster and simply better Buffalo team was doing. 

The problem for Boston is that a lot of these flaws have existed all season. Even with their strong record and playoff appearance, this was always a questionable team that lacked depth and solid defensive play. Swayman's play simply masked it over the course of the season.

From an analytics standpoint, Boston allowed 2.93 expected goals per 60 minutes of 5-on-5 play during the regular season. That ranked them 29th in the entire NHL and worst among all playoff teams. During all situations, they allowed 3.57 expected goals per 60 minutes. That ranked them 30th in the NHL, and again worst among all playoff teams.

The only saving grace they had was the fact that Swayman was one of the best goalies in the NHL and repeatedly bailed them out. His 28.8 goals saved above expected were the second-most in the NHL and a season-changing performance. If he had simply had an average year in net, the Bruins might not even have made the playoffs. 

They found out on Sunday what happens when he is off his game, even a little bit. It gets ugly. Quickly. 

Elite goaltending can win you a lot of games on its own. But there is a ceiling to how far that can take a mediocre team. It is typically not very far. The Bruins are also finding that out.