For the first period Thursday night, the Boston Bruins looked like a team that needed a little more time to ease back into the NHL regular season after a three-week Olympic break. They didn't have that luxury, though. This was a huge game against one of the teams chasing them for a playoff spot, the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Fortunately for them, Joonas Korpisalo didn't need any easing in. He was ready to go right from puck drop, and made 19 saves in the first period alone to keep it a 1-1 game. Korpisalo would ultimately finish with 36 saves on 38 shots in a big 4-2 Bruins victory.
This was a fascinating game from a Boston goaltending perspective for several reasons. Normally, this would be the kind of game earmarked for starter Jeremy Swayman. But Swayman didn't even dress. Michael DiPietro backed up Korpisalo, and actually had to contribute to the win.
Korpisalo got pulled from the game for a concussion check early in the second period after getting run over by Miles Wood, so DiPietro came in to play six minutes and make two saves before Korpisalo got cleared to return to the game.
Swayman, of course, just won Olympic gold with Team USA. By the time he returned to Boston after a couple days of celebrating, he was only able to get into a partial practice on Wednesday and an optional morning skate on Thursday. Head coach Marco Sturm and goalie coach Bob Essensa didn't feel it was enough to have full confidence in Swayman by Thursday night.
"He didn't play for a while, so just want to make sure," Sturm said of Swayman Thursday morning. "We're gonna be careful down the stretch, because we need him."
Korpisalo was also at the Olympics, and won bronze with Finland on Saturday, but he got back to Boston earlier and got in a full practice on Tuesday that Swayman didn't get. That made all the difference in Sturm's eyes.
"Korpi was unbelievable today," Sturm said after the game. "Glad he came back right away from the Olympics, right away, didn't waste any time going to be in practice. I thought that the last two days was very important for him, just to be back on the ice and having a real practice again. And yeah, he was great."
Sturm liked what he saw from DiPietro – who was making his first NHL appearance since 2022 – as well, and clearly felt vindicated in the decision to dress DiPietro instead of Swayman.
"Mikey, what a story," Sturm said. "I mean, now you know why we didn't dress actually Sway. Not because we don't trust him. It's just, you know, this guy barely practiced. Today was his first one, and we didn't really want to risk anything. And good for Mikey. I mean, this guy has been rock solid all year long. And believe it or not, that little stretch, he made some key says, and we felt very good about it. Both goalies were outstanding."
It would be a stretch to say the Bruins suddenly have some sort of goalie controversy. Swayman will almost certainly start Saturday in Philadelphia. DiPietro will almost certainly be sent back to Providence.
But this was a show of faith in Korpisalo, and he rewarded that faith. Two months ago, just before Christmas, Sturm seemed hesitant to play Korpisalo at all, and wound up overworking Swayman with six games in a 10-day stretch at one point.
On Thursday, though, there was no forcing a Swayman start. Sturm trusted Korpisalo in a big spot, and Korpisalo delivered, just as he has pretty consistently since Christmas. After Thursday's win, Korpisalo is now 5-1-2 with a .921 save percentage and 2.31 goals-against average in his last nine games (eight starts). That is actually better than Swayman over that same time (8-2-2, .908 save percentage, 2.94 GAA).
The Bruins are going to need Korpisalo down the stretch. Thursday night was the start of 25 games in 48 days to close out the regular season. The guess here is that Korpisalo starts 8-10 of those games, and every one of them will be important with the Bruins in the thick of a playoff race.