Did the Bruins make the wrong choice in starting Jeremy Swayman for the fourth straight game?

A few days later hammering on some of the silver linings Coming off a regulation loss to the Oilers, Marco Sturm didn’t follow the same script after Boston secured at least a point in the standings against the Canucks.

“Those little individual mistakes, I would say, cost us another point,” Sturm said on NESN. “The first period was really good, but again, some guys – [it was] probably one of their worst games of the year. And yes, unfortunately, it just cost us a point.”

Earning at least a point won’t ease the Bruins’ frustrations after a 5-4 shootout loss to the Canucks — a game in which Boston largely controlled the game and held a 42-22 advantage in shots on goal and coughed up a one-goal lead in the third period.

Boston entered Saturday with a 20-2-0 record when taking the lead after 40 minutes. But several critical mistakes and an inability to put aside a tough Canucks team proved costly in Boston’s second straight loss.

“It seems like it was a weird match,” said Mark Kastelic. “It felt like they took advantage of every mistake we made and that’s the unfortunate part. The only thing we have to clean up in the third is try to limit the nervous breakdown. … It’s definitely disappointing. This felt like a game we definitely should have played, but there’s nothing we can do about it anymore.”

There were several wasted opportunities for Boston to turn Saturday’s game into a get-right victory after Thursday’s setback against Edmonton.

Two failed power-play bids that could have given Boston some breathing room came to naught, with Linus Karlsson tying the game at 3-3 just 38 seconds after the Bruins’ last chance at the man advantage expired in the third period.

There was Boston’s inability to put a puck past Kevin Lankinen despite generating six shots during the five-minute extra period, while Sturm’s choice of participants in a seven-round shootout also loomed large.

But even with Jeremy Swayman denying the first six attempts coming his way in Saturday’s shootout, the decision to play Swayman against the Canucks was a bit of a curious choice.

While Swayman is Boston’s No. 1 netminder, Saturday marked the fourth straight game in which the 27-year-old goaltender earned the nod between the pipes.

And in a game where the Bruins largely dictated play against the Canucks, a timely save or two from Swayman in regulation likely would have been the difference — with Swayman knocking for an .818 save percentage (18 saves on 22 shots) en route to his second straight loss.

Swayman hasn’t regularly been tasked with recording four straight starts during his tenure with the Bruins, especially during the years when he shared the net with Linus Ullmark.

He did largely better this year when he got a little more time on the line from Sturm. Earlier this season, he recorded a career-best 44 saves in his third straight start against the Islanders on Nov. 26.

But on Saturday, Swayman was operating in uncharted waters in terms of his workload, with Sturm once again turning to him instead of backup Joonas Korpisalo.

“It was a big game for us, and we thought he would give us the best chance,” Sturm said again after the game with Swayman.

The Bruins’ compressed schedule ahead of the holidays doesn’t do Boston any favors when it comes to managing reps, while it was all but certain that Swayman and Korpisalo would split their starts this weekend ahead of back-to-back games against the Canucks and Senators.

But the call to stick with Swayman instead of giving him the night off before a key divisional game against Ottawa on Sunday does raise some eyebrows.

Granted, Swayman hasn’t been sharp against the Senators in his career, posting a 4-4-3 record and an .888 save percentage through eleven games against them.

Holding out Swayman on Sunday also gives Boston the opportunity to have a rested Swayman ready for an anticipated home game against the Montreal Canadiens on December 23.

Still, the Bruins and Sturm may need to know when to cut their losses by pushing Swayman’s reps outside of his regular allocation during the grind of an 82-game season — especially at this hectic pace during an Olympic year.

Conor Ryan is a staff writer for the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.