Bruins’ Joonas Korpisalo Not Thrilled With First Flames Goal
BOSTON — Bruins goaltender Joonas Korpisalo turned aside 33 of 36 shots in Boston’s gutsy overtime win against the Calgary Flames on Thursday night.
Despite earning his third win of the season, Korpisalo wasn’t thrilled with Tyson Barrie’s slap shot from just inside the blue line to tie the game at one in the opening frame.
“The guys did a good job in front of me, taking care of the second chances,” Korpisalo said. “First goal, not too happy with myself there. But otherwise, we did a great job in front of the net and cleared the rebounds.”
Justin Kirkland won the draw against Johnny Beecher, and the puck was fed back to Ryan Lomberg, who fed it to Barrie for the one-timer. Korpisalo admitted he wasn’t screened on the play and saw the puck clearly from the point.
“I just messed it up myself. That’s on me,” he said.
Korpisalo made three saves in the extra period before Brad Marchand tallied the game-winner with 20 seconds left to seal the victory for Boston.
“I just tried to battle through it,” Korpisalo said of the overtime period. “There’s always going to be chances, but we got a couple of great back checks there as well to ease it on me and we got it done.”
It was only the second time Korpisalo has faced 30-plus shots in a game this season. The first was the Bruins’ opening night against the Florida Panthers. The 30-year-old netminder made 29 saves on 35 shots for his first loss of the season.
Korpisalo is 3-2-0 on the season, posting a .900 save percentage and a 2.72 goals-against average. He’s become more comfortable with his new team through six games.
“I feel like I can be myself out there,” Korpisalo said. “Obviously, there’s always some things to get better at, but it’s nice to play behind the guys. They play so well in front of me and I’m just trying to be me.”