Even after the Tim Thomas debacle of 2012 and the departure of respectable goaltender, Anton Khudobin a year later, the Boston Bruins are a deep goal tending team whose list of prized possessions ranges past just the name of Tuukka Rask. However if one were to rank categorically the skill sets of the Bruins 5 major goaltenders currently under contract second only to Tuukka Rask would be a man named Niklas Svedberg.
The 24 year old Swedish goaltender will make his NHL debut for the Bruins Thursday against the Predators and will undoubtedly take to the ice knowing the magnitude of this game as it pertains to his longevity as a professional hockey player. Niklas was originally signed to the Bruins AHL team in Providence as an undrafted free agent back in May of 2012 and was expected to possibly march into the backup role behind Tuukka Rask for this current 2013-2014 NHL season. Svedberg sure made a strong case for such recognition as he won the AHL's award for best goaltender in 2012-2013 posting a league best 37-8-4 record, a GAA of 2.17 and 4 regular season shutouts. The case was made and even then, the Bruins front offence decided to forgo Svedberg electing to instead go with the backstopping talents of extremely inexperienced goaltender, Chad Johnson.
Midway through the season, that decision has been looking stranger and stranger by the minute before finally it was announced that Svedberg's time to shine has come. Now while this will be Svedberg's first NHL action, it will not be the first time his name has been penciled into a lineup card as less than a week ago, he was called up to serve as Tuukka's backup for Boston's home and home set with Ottowa. However prior to his making the start in the final game of that series, injuries to Zdeno Chara and Carl Soderberg made it so that Svedberg must be returned to Providence in order to make room for Zach Trotman and others to serve as skaters in the game.
To make matters worse, Svedberg's mother was in attendance for that second game expecting to see her son start.
That's how it works and you just move on," Svedberg said brushing off the pain of the demotion. "I went back to Providence, played there and you wait to get another chance. Fortunately, I get that pretty soon here with this game."
Tuukka Rask however was in full apologetic mode when asked about his thoughts.
"I felt so bad for him," Rask said. "His mom was there and everything, but he's been patient and now his time has come. He's a laid back guy, so I don't think he's going to get too nervous. He'll be fine."
As Svedberg starts this evening, he will be going up against a team many would deem to be easy game for goaltenders. The Nashville Predators have scored the second fewest goals in the league this season putting up on average just 2.4 goals per game.
"I'm looking forward to seeing him in net tonight," coach, Claude Jullian said at Thursday's morning skate. "He's going to be fine," Julien said. "You saw him in the preseason games, and I know preseason may not be exactly like a regular-season game, but he seemed calm and his demeanor is very calm. He's got to go out there and just play his game. I don't think he's going to be an overly excited goaltender that's going to be thrown off his game. He's going to play with confidence and if anything, he's going to want to prove himself."
Jullian eluded to Svedberg's preseason play several times in his remarks about the goaltender as it seemed that his 26 save performance in the Bruins 2nd to last preseason game of 2013 made a huge mark on the Bruin skipper. As for that cool headed, calm style of pre-game activity highlighted by both Rask and Jullian Svedberg did not deny any of it. He seems legit and even more so, fiercely focused on his lone goal of stopping as many shots as his body will allow him to.
"It's a good feeling," Svedberg said. "Right now I'm just trying to stay calm and focus on the game and what I'm going to do out there. That's my only focus right now."
Halfway through this Bruins season the questions surrounding the situation regarding who will play backup goalie as the season goes on as quietly turned into a raging controversy sparking silent discontent among Bruins fans every time Chad Johnson allows a weak goal. As Bruins fans continue to ask these questions, they must understand that this impending game vs the Predators may be their answer.
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