Following the Boston Bruins' 4-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets, Marco Sturm opened his press conference with some pointed commentary regarding the return of Joonas Korpisalo. When asked about Korpisalo, he used the term “unbelievable” to describe the netminder’s play in his outing against Columbus, who earned First Star, stopping 36 of 38 shots. The interesting comments were what followed. Sturm added how he was “Glad he came back right away…Didn’t waste any time, wanted to be at practice”.
This comes on the heels of Jeremy Swayman winning the gold medal with Team USA at the 2026 Milan/Cortina Olympic Games and being a scratch for Thursday night’s contest. Maybe this was a head coach voicing some frustration with his $8.25 million star goaltender? Or it was a public display of affection for his backup, who has been a rock for this team over his last seven starts, posting a 5-0-2 record.
Korpisalo was an Olympian himself, representing his home country of Finland and bringing back a Bronze Medal. Sturm did go on to say that Thursday was Swayman’s first practice back in Boston and the team “didn’t want to risk anything”. Maybe this is something to keep an eye on down the stretch.
A full 60 Minute effort is something Sturm is still looking for
From the tone of Marco’s voice, you could tell that he would allow his team some slack after being off for nearly three weeks; however, there were still some plays that were not up to the coach’s standard. Specifically mentioning Columbus’s second goal, with the Bruins up 3-1 with just over 6 minutes left in the third period, the Bruins should have been able to shut the game down. The Blue Jackets went a full 200 feet, and Adam Fantilli fired a wrist shot past Korpisalo to make it a one-goal game.
Sturm went on to describe the goal as “giving them life, giving them hope for no reason”. The Bruins would go on to ice the game with a Viktor Arvidsson empty net goal, securing an all-important two points. The head coach credited his group, saying, “It’s a calm bench, no chaos, no panic”. This is a positive sign for a team that is in a sprint to the playoffs with a handful of teams vying for those last two wild-card spots.
Boston travels to Philadelphia to battle with the Flyers (26-21-11) on Saturday at 3 PM. This is slated to be Jeremy Swayman’s first game back since the Olympic Break. I expect a motivated Swayman, who is ready to be the workhorse goaltender in this dash to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.