The Boston Bruins' overtime loss on Monday night was far from Joonas Korpisalo's fault. The New Jersey Devils outshot them 34-22, but the Bruins' backup goaltender helped the team hang on long enough to get a loser point in overtime. While the loss was ugly and it stung to only get one point, Korpisalo did enough to set Boston up for a massive opportunity on Tuesday night.
Credit goes to Marco Sturm for this decision. Most coaches would've elected to go with their starting goaltender for the "easier" game on Monday night, when their team is most rested, and punt the backup goalie to the second night of the back-to-back, in hopes of catching lightning in a bottle and stealing the victory.
Instead of going along with the norm, Sturm put trust in Korpisalo to get the team the win against the lowly Devils, leaving his starter for a massive road game at the Bell Centre, which could be a house of horrors with the way Boston has been playing on the road lately. Now, with Korpisalo securing a point, the Bruins are one point behind both Montreal and the Detroit Red Wings, and can jump all the way to third in the Atlantic with a regulation win on Tuesday night.
The good news is that Swayman loves playing at the Bell Centre. He is 5-1-1 at the prestigious rink in his career, owning a .903 save percentage and a 2.70 goals-against average. Bruins fans would've been pretty nervous with Korpisalo in between the pipes for what feels like a must-win game, but both the fans and players should feel at ease with Swayman back there on some extra rest.
Bruins-Canadiens could be biggest game of season
It's been a long time since a Bruins-Canadiens matchup felt like it had so much juice. The teams are jockeying for playoff positioning, and a win for Boston will elevate them to third in the Atlantic, a massive step this late in the season. However, after Detroit's win on Monday night, a loss would put Boston three points behind Montreal and sitting primed to get overtaken in the second wild card position.
It isn't going to be an easy watch on the fans' nerves, but after over a decade of Montreal metioricty, it's these kinds of games against the hated rivals that made fans out of everyone in the early 2000s. Whichever way it goes, it's nice to have hockey's most historic rivalry back.