The Boston Bruins suffered an ugly 3-2 overtime loss against the St. Louis Blues at TD Garden on Saturday. The biggest reason they even got a point was goalie Joonas Korpisalo.
Korpisalo stopped 28 of the 31 shots he faced. As the team in front of him went through the motions in the second and third periods, getting outshot 15-6 over a 27-minute stretch at one point, Korpisalo gave the Bruins a chance to cling to a 2-1 lead. After multiple defensive-zone breakdowns led to a tying goal for the Blues with 10:42 left in regulation, Korpisalo made sure the Bruins at least held onto one point.
There haven’t been many consistent positives for the Bruins this season. Saturday marked their second straight poor performance after a comeback win over these same Blues on Tuesday that Boston had hoped would be a turning point. Their offense – both at 5-on-5 and on the power play – continues to be almost non-existent. Their star players continue to be wildly inconsistent on a game-to-game basis. Coach Jim Montgomery remains unable to come up with any answers. Even their 5-on-5 defense, which had shown signs of improvement, has broken down the last two games.
“We didn’t have a lot of juice in the tank. I don’t know why we didn’t,” Montgomery said postgame.
Korpisalo, however, has become a consistent bright spot, and he was one player who did have juice Saturday. Since a rough opening night loss in Florida, Korpisalo has gone 3-1-1 in six appearances (five starts) with a .918 save percentage. He has found a way to stay sharp despite often going a week or more between starts (his last one before Saturday was nine days ago).
While the Bruins have not hesitated to shake up other parts of the roster or lineup, the goalie workloads have remained largely unchanged: three or four straight games for Swayman, one for Korpisalo, rinse and repeat.
It might be time to change that. Korpisalo has earned more playing time. Swayman has not yet earned the kind of workhorse role he has been given. In fact, the numbers suggest the heavier workload has actually hurt him so far, as Swayman has not played well when he’s gotten a third or fourth consecutive start.
When Swayman has played his first or second game after a night off this season, he is 4-3-2 with a .907 save percentage. Not great, but at least passable.
In outings that have been a third or fourth straight start, though, his numbers have been downright dismal: a 1-3-0 record with an .847 save percentage.
Three of the five games in which Swayman has allowed four or more goals have come in those third and fourth games. One of the other two was his first start of the season, which came after missing all of training camp and preseason due to his contract negotiations.
Korpisalo has also outperformed Swayman in some key metrics, especially when it comes to high-danger chances. Out of 55 goalies who have played at least five games this season, Korpisalo is tied for second in high-danger save percentage (.875) while Swayman is way down at 53rd (.713), according to Natural Stat Trick. Korpisalo stopped all five high-danger shots he saw Saturday.
In layman’s terms, Korpisalo has bailed the Bruins out more consistently than Swayman has this season. And the Bruins, unfortunately, have needed to be bailed out often.
“Just the way he battles in there for us,” Montgomery said when asked what he has liked about Korpisalo. “His second and third effort is really good, and he’s making some really good, high-level, grade-A stops for us.”
Swayman was tabbed for somewhere around 55 starts after the Bruins traded away Linus Ullmark and then signed him to a massive eight-year, $66 million extension. He is currently on pace for 56. But Montgomery and general manager Don Sweeney also left the door open to adjust that number up or down based on Swayman’s performance, Korpisalo’s performance, and what the team might need during certain stretches of the season.
Now might be a good time for an adjustment. While we saw Swayman excel with a heavier workload in the playoffs this past spring, he is struggling with it right now and is clearly not in peak form yet. Until he is, Korpisalo is playing like a goalie who can handle – and has earned – at least one out of every three starts.