Since the 4 Nations Face-off last month, Boston Bruins interim coach Joe Sacco has been riding top goalie Jeremy Swayman. Things haven’t gone well and it all can’t be attributed to Swayman as his teammates in front of him have not had two good games in the last five days.
After losses to the Ottawa Senators and Tampa Bay Lightning with Swayman in the net, Sacco is making a change for Monday night’s home game against the Buffalo Sabres in what feels like a must-win if the Black and Gold have any postseason hopes. I know, playoff hopes are slipping further and further with each day it seems and this will be the last home game before Boston heads west for the rest of the month, needing to jump a handful of teams to get into a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
Bruins to start Joonas Korpisalo against the Sabres
After Monday morning’s skate, Sacco said that Joonas Korpisalo would get the start against Buffalo at the TD Garden. The last time the Bruins and Sabres met, Buffalo torched Swayman for seven goals in a 7-2 victory.
Korpisalo in net for Bruins
— steve conroy (@conroyherald) March 17, 2025
Korpisalo played very well in relief of Swayman last Thursday night in Ottawa allowing just one goal (the other was an empty-net goal) in a 6-3 loss. There are times this season when you could make the case that Boston plays better in front of Korpisalo than they do Swayman.
In his first year with the Bruins, Korpisalo, acquired from Ottawa as part of the Linus Ullmark trade last June, is 10-7-2 with a 2.78 goals against average and an .893 save percentage in 22 games. It’s not surprising to see the Bruins go in this direction against Buffalo as Swayman does need some time off ahead of the trip out west. We’ll see if the Black and Gold can snap their losing streak with this move, but it was a move that had to be made.