It wasn’t exactly a ringing endorsement from Bruins coach Marco Sturm on Thursday morning. While discussing Jeremy Swayman’s workload this season, Sturm noted that he would need to rely on backup Joonas Korpisalo Thursday night after Swayman had made four straight starts.
“Today we gotta rely on Korpi. He’s been OK too, but hopefully he’s going to be better tonight,” Sturm said.
Sturm’s support of Korpisalo was much stronger after Thursday’s 4-1 win over the Calgary Flames, a game in which Korpisalo stopped 28 of the 29 shots he faced.
“Very glad,” Sturm said when asked about Korpisalo’s performance. “Even for him, being on the road, it’s not easy for the goalie. Especially yesterday, long flight. Good practice today, this morning, and I’m very happy. He kept us in the game, pretty solid, especially in the second period. So, I’m glad he had a good game.”
Korpisalo needed a good game. His 6-8-0 record and .882 save percentage this season entering Thursday haven’t been good enough. He had given up four or more goals in four of his last seven starts, and had lost five of those seven. He was better in his last start in Buffalo on Dec. 27, when he stopped 30 of 33, but that game was still a loss.
The Bruins also needed a good game from Korpisalo so that the coaching staff could trust him more, and use him more. Since late November, Korpisalo has had three different stretches of going more than a week without a start.
Swayman, meanwhile, just started four straight games for the second time in the last three weeks, even though he generally has not played well when making that many starts in a row. In his two most recent fourth starts, he’s 0-1-1 with 10 goals allowed on 49 shots (.796 save percentage). Before Christmas, he actually appeared in six straight games over a 10-day stretch, because Korpisalo got pulled from the one start he made during that time.
Sturm has pointed out that there are multiple factors that go into which goalie to start, but ultimately it comes down to who he believes gives Boston the better chance to win that night.
“End of the day, we want to win a hockey game,” Sturm said. “And a lot of times I feel like, OK, who gives me the best opportunity? And lately it's been [Swayman] a lot.”
It is telling that Sturm has believed the answer to be Swayman over Korpisalo even if it’s meant a fourth straight start for Swayman. Rather than having a clear plan to keep Swayman fresh and keep Korpisalo involved, the plan has seemingly been to ride Swayman until the wheels fall off, and then turn to Korpisalo out of sheer necessity.
On Thursday morning, Sturm seemed to acknowledge that he may need to change that.
“I think moving forward, you will probably see a different pattern to it,” Sturm said. “When it gets too much with Sway, that we have to settle him down and give him a little bit more rest, yes. So that’s what we’re going through right now.”
But he has to be able to trust Korpisalo in order to lighten Swayman’s workload. If he can’t, perhaps the Bruins would need to try a different backup goalie. Providence’s Michael DiPietro is certainly making a push as one of the best goalies in the AHL this season.
For that reason, Thursday’s win was a big one for both Korpisalo and the Bruins. With a back-to-back coming up this weekend at TD Garden (Rangers on Saturday, Penguins on Sunday), Korpisalo should get right back in and not have to endure another long layoff between starts. With both games against teams the Bruins are battling with in the playoff race, they could certainly use another performance like Thursday’s.