Exclusive: Tough playoff opponents for Bruins, hard decision for Boston to make.

The Bruins are up against the clock, as they’ll soon need to decide whether Jeremy Swayman or Linus Ullmark will start Game 1 of their upcoming first-round series in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

It’s a decision some teams would kill for, but a tough one nonetheless.

Boston’s enjoyed having the best goaltending duo in hockey for a couple of years now but hasn’t been here before. Ullmark is coming off a Vezina Trophy winning season, so when it came down to deciding who would start against the Florida panthers in 2023, the answer was simple… for about a week or so. He struggled mightily in that series, seeing his save percentage dwindle from .938 in the regular season to .896 across six games in the postseason. The B’s turned to Swayman in Game 7, he gave up four goals in an overtime loss and the rest is history — or lack thereof.

Swayman was coming in cold, though, so whatever he did against Florida in that final game at TD Garden was going to have an asterisk. The Bruins will want to avoid putting someone in that position again, so the decision they do end up making will be critical.

If you had to bet on someone getting the nod this year, it would have been Swayman. He posted a 21-6-8 record, 2.36 goals against average and a .922 save percentage prior to the trade deadline, while Ullmark was 16-7-7, allowed 2.77 goals per game and had a .909 save percentage over that same stretch.

It looked like Boston would easily choose the 25-year-old, but the script has been flipped.

Swayman’s been bad over his last three starts, allowing 12 goals and posting a .848 save percentage. Ullmark’s been tremendous, posting a .955 save percentage while allowing just four goals in three games. He no longer is playing with the stress of possibly being traded hanging over his head and is thriving without it.

Is there a solution to the problem of having to decide between Swayman and Ullmark? No, probably not. The Bruins might not have to decide, though.