BOSTON \u2014 The Boston Bruins and Joonas Korpisalo beat the Dallas Stars on Tuesday 6-3. They are eight points clear of the Ottawa Senators, the ninth-place team. Their odds of qualifying for the playoffs grow by the day.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As such, they are nearing the point when a Korpisalo appearance would mean that something has gone wrong.<\/p>\n
Jeremy Swayman, assuming good health, will occupy the net for every playoff game. In fact, it\u2019s not out of the question that Swayman starts five, if not more, of the final seven regular-season tilts. Swayman is a workhorse who does not mind lots of action.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d like to play him every game. He\u2019s just that good,\u201d coach Marco Sturm said with a smile before Tuesday\u2019s win. \u201cBut we also have to look at what\u2019s coming ahead and how we\u2019re going to use him the best we can. The way we played (against the Columbus Blue Jackets), even down 3-0, it was not even his fault. Not at all. Then he made some really good saves in the second period to keep us in the game. He\u2019s done it all year long. It\u2019s fun to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n
Korpisalo stopped 13 of 16 shots. Jamie Benn, Matt Duchene and Wyatt Johnston beat him with close-quarters action. The Stars found some holes in the No. 2 goalie.<\/p>\n
But Korpisalo helped his team bank two more points. He is 7-1-4 in his last 12 starts. It is not bad when you can get 18 of 24 possible points with your backup in net.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels good,\u201d said Korpisalo, who has beaten the Stars and Buffalo Sabres in his last two starts. \u201cBig points, obviously. Hats off to the boys. They played awesome. They make my job easy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Stars have serious firepower: Johnston (41 goals), Jason Robertson (40), Mikko Rantanen (21). Miro Heiskanen and Thomas Harley are blue-line drivers. Sturm classified the Stars as the NHL\u2019s top club.<\/p>\n
But the Bruins blanketed the Stars to the point where they only got 16 shots. According to MoneyPuck, the Bruins had the upper hand in expected all-situations goals, 4.8 to 2.58. The Bruins executed a three-zone smothering.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe tracked 200 feet,\u201d said Korpisalo. \u201cNot many odd-man rushes. In zone, guys were boxing out, taking shot lanes away. Phenomenal job by everyone. That\u2019s part of our 200-foot game today.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Bruins are trending the right way. At five-on-five, per Natural Stat Trick, they have led in expected goals share in three of the last four games. Before that, they had been underwater for five straight games. They were relying too much on Swayman and Korpisalo.<\/p>\n
The optimal manner in which the Bruins hope to play is by making defensive stands up the ice to keep the dangerous stuff from even happening. Their goalies are good enough to make timely saves.<\/p>\n
Korpisalo proved that in Tuesday\u2019s second period.<\/p>\n
The Bruins were up 2-1. They were in control because of their checking. But Robertson, as he regularly does, spotted a soft spot. One of Dallas\u2019 most dangerous finishers was off on a breakaway.<\/p>\n
Robertson could have tied the game. But Korpisalo kicked out the winger\u2019s snap shot with his right pad. He then stuffed Robertson\u2019s rebound attempt with another flash of his pad.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have your prescouts on some guys. Maybe that was part of it,\u201d said Korpisalo. \u201cObviously you play with your instincts. He\u2019s a great player. Fortunately, I got a pad on it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last year, Korpisalo told management during exit interviews that he believed he merited more action. He had a point. His .893 save percentage was better than Swayman\u2019s (.892).<\/p>\n
There is no argument anymore. Swayman is making a case for the Vezina Trophy. He has earned the starts that are coming.<\/p>\n
Korpisalo, meanwhile, has met the ask. He has not been among the league\u2019s elite. But he has not been expected to qualify for such merit. Korpisalo is what he is: a credible No. 2 goalie who can give his ace the rest he needs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s so important to have two really good goaltenders in this league,\u201d said Sturm. \u201cIf you don\u2019t really have them, it\u2019s going to be hard. We\u2019re very lucky this year to have two really outstanding goalies who have kept us in games and won us games. They give us a chance every night. Korpi\u2019s been really good too, the last three, four starts.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BOSTON \u2014 The Boston Bruins and Joonas Korpisalo beat the Dallas Stars on Tuesday 6-3. They are eight…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":534566,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5117],"tags":[95,196,147,5278,5,4,197],"class_list":{"0":"post-534565","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-stars","8":"tag-boston-bruins","9":"tag-dallas","10":"tag-dallas-stars","11":"tag-dallasstars","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-nhl","14":"tag-stars"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116329167168542184","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=534565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/534566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}