Shorthanded Bruins need more from Joonas Korpisalo in net

Boston Bruins

Korpisalo’s goals saved above expected rate ranks 70th out of 76 qualified goalies this season.

By Conor Ryan

November 28, 2025 | 5:30 PM

2 minutes to read

The odds weren’t looking good for Marco Sturm and the Bruins on Friday morning. 

A few hours ahead of a matinee matchup against the Rangers, Sturm announced that an already banged-up Bruins roster was going to trudge ahead without both David Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha — both “day to day” with injuries. 

“It’s very easy, because we’ve done it before,” Sturm said pregame of weathering the storm after these latest injury setbacks. “I just told the group, I’m not worried at all, because I’ve done it. We’ve done it as a group before with a lot of guys out, and as long as we play with our structure, especially without the puck, we will be good.”

That optimism dissipated in short order. Boston was dealt its most lopsided Black Friday loss since a 5-1 defeat via Carolina in 2006 — with the Rangers leaving the ice with a 6-2 victory at TD Garden.

There were few positives to draw from.

A shorthanded Bruins roster struggled to start on time, and were plagued by multiple turnovers and miscues that made life easier on a quick-strike Rangers offense.

Penalty woes once again sprouted up for Boston, with a costly double-minor infraction whistled against Hampus Lindholm directly leading to two power-play tallies from Mika Zibanejad. 

But in what has been a recurring trend this year, a Bruins team operating with a slim margin for error also needed more from its backup netminder Joonas Korpisalo. 

Despite a few impressive stops on one Blueshirts power play, Korpisalo once again was knocked for a lopsided loss — giving up five goals on 35 Rangers shots. 

Of course, some of that was a direct result of some critical breakdowns in front of him on Friday afternoon.

But as Jeremy Swayman starts to re-assert himself as one of the top young netminders in the league, the Bruins are going to need their backup option to start finding his groove in short order. 

Following Friday’s loss, Korpisalo is now 4-6-0 on the season with an .875 save percentage. The underlying numbers haven’t been much better.

When it comes to goals saved above expected this season — a metric that factors in shot quality and the saves made on those attempts — Korpisalo currently ranks 70th out of 76 qualified goalies with a goals saved above expected rate of -4.9, per MoneyPuck.

For those keeping tabs, Swayman currently ranks first among all NHL netminders in goals saved above expected at 17.5 so far this season. 

In other words, Swayman’s individual play between the pipes has taken over 17 goals off the board for the opposition so far this season, while opponents are scoring nearly six more goals than expected when Korpisalo has been out on the ice. 

Korpisalo has had his moments this season, such as his stellar OT performance in Boston’s home-opening win over the Blackhawks on Oct. 9. 

But as Swayman’s recent rise (7-2-0, .935 save percentage in November) keeps the Bruins afloat, Boston needs its backup to find his game in short order.

Injuries or not, this current Bruins depth chart can’t reliably accrue points with a .875 backup netminder.

 

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