Boston Bruins
“I’m just glad I didn’t screw it up.”
Michael DiPietro was quick with a retort on Thursday when asked if he thought Bruins starting goalie Joonas Korpisalo was going to return to Boston’s home game against Columbus.
“He better,” the 26-year-old goalie said with a laugh after Boston’s eventual 4-2 win.
After all, Korpisalo’s brief injury scare against the Blue Jackets seemingly threw Boston’s entire goalie grouping out of sorts in the club’s first regular-season game in over three weeks.
Marco Sturm had both of his usual starting goalies available on Thursday in Jeremy Swayman and Korpisalo. But Boston’s head coach opted to give Swayman — fresh off of celebrating an Olympic gold medal with Team USA — a few more days to practice before getting a start.
As such, Korpisalo got the nod against Columbus. DiPietro — an emergency recall from the Providence Bruins who had skated several times with Boston during the Olympic break — was on hand as the backup.
“Just give him another good practice,” Strum said of keeping Swayman off the ice Thursday. “[Wednesday] was not really a practice. He just went out and was happy to be at the rink. Today will be a good practice and [Friday] will be a good practice. And it’s an afternoon game [Saturday vs. Philadelphia], so there’s a lot more to it and we just want to make sure we do the right thing.”
Sturm’s augmented goalie duo was eventually tested a little over six minutes into the second period, with Blue Jackets winger Miles Wood barreling over Korpisalo in the crease. The 31-year-old goalie appeared shaken on the play, with Wood whistled for goaltender interference.
Shortly before play resumed, Korpisalo was pulled from the game by the concussion spotter.
“It’s league protocol. It’s a pretty big bump,” Korpisalo said of getting taken from the game. “So I can understand that.”
For the first time since 2022, DiPietro was back in an NHL net — pressed into service as Boston went on the man advantage.
DiPietro had little time to warm up, with Bruins forward Mikey Eyssimont doing his part by firing a few pucks in against him before play resumed.
“Just breathing,” DiPietro said of his approach after going into the game. “Dialing it back in and just taking it one puck at a time and just always being ready.”
Ultimately, DiPietro was only needed for 6:03 of ice time — stopping two shots before Korpisalo returned to the ice. During that stretch, DiPietro negated one shorthanded chance by Columbus, while Morgan Geekie eventually gave Boston a 2-1 lead with a power-play tally.
“I’m just glad I didn’t screw it up,” DiPietro said. “Made a couple saves and held it down until Korpi was ready to go back in.”
While DiPietro stood tall in his limited reps, Korpisalo locked things down the rest of the way — stopping 36 of the 38 shots that came his way in the win.
Sturm had plenty of praise for Korpisalo, who has posted a .923 save percentage over his last eight games.
But he also offered up a stick tap for DiPietro — who was named AHL Goalie of the Year in 2024-25 with Providence.
While the promising goalie awaits his next opportunity for NHL reps, he has continued to dominate with the P-Bruins, going 22-6-0 so far this season against AHL competition with a .938 save percentage.
“Korpi was unbelievable today,” Sturm said. “Glad he came back right away, from the Olympics. Didn’t waste any time. Wanted to be in practice. I thought that the last two days were very important for him, just to be back on the ice and having a real practice again. And, yeah he was great. And Mikey, what a story. … Good for Mikey.
“I mean, this guy has been rock-solid all along. And believe it or not, that little stretch, he made some key saves. We felt very good about it. Both goalies were outstanding.”
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