The Boston Bruins had an eventful trip to Madison Square Garden, to say the least. The Bruins played their second game of the preseason, and defeated the New York Rangers 5-4 in overtime on a goal by defenseman Nikita Zadarov.
The win comes after the Bruins trailed 4-1 entering the second intermission. Goaltender Joonas Korpisalo had a rough outing, as he allowed all four Rangers goals on 37 shots faced. Korpisalo was the only goalie that head coach Marco Sturm used on Tuesday night.
Bruins center Mikey Eyssimont praised Korpisalo for his effort in the win.
"First game I played with him, but he's well-known around the league as being an unbelievable goalie, so he's just been fun to watch practice. I don't watch goalies too closely. Every once in a while, one shows up where you really notice how good they are, and he's absolutely that," said Eyssimont.
Joonas Korpisalo has harsher review of performance in Bruins overtime win over Rangers in preseason
While Eyssimont praised Korpisalo for his performance, the goaltender was much harder on himself. After being asked how he felt after playing in his first game, Korpisalo said he didn't help matters by giving up four goals in the first two periods.
"I was all right. Four goals, you know, not too happy about that. But saw a lot of action, which is great for the first game and especially for the full 60 minutes. There's some things I have to improve for sure," said Korpisalo
Korpisalo is ready for his second season with the Bruins after being acquired by the team before last season. Korpisalo will once again be the backup behind Jeremy Swayman. Last year, Korpisalo recorded a .893 save percentage, a 2.90 goals allowed average, and an 11-10-3 record in 27 games (24 starts).
Sturm said after the game that while it was Korpisalo's first game of the preseason, he did see him give up too many rebounds in the game.
Again, this is the preseason, so there is plenty of time for Korpisalo and other Bruins players to fine tune their game to ensure they are flawless in the regular season. The game could have gone a lot worse, but Korpisalo did hold his own in the third period and overtime to help the team secure a massive comeback victory.