BOSTON — Joonas Korpisalo wasn’t campaigning. The Bruins’ backup goalie wasn’t trying to advance his cause publicly or stir anything up.
But when asked at the team’s season-ending media availability, he said he’d like to play more.
The Bruins traded for the 30-year-old Finn because they wanted an experienced backup. Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark, who’d split the load over the past two seasons, each wanted to be a No. 1 goalie and carry the workload that came with that.
So they traded Ullmark to Ottawa for a first round draft choice, Mark Kastelic and Korpisalo, who the Senators were willing to move because he’d struggled as their No. 1. In one season in the Canadian capital, Korpisalo was 20-26-4, with a 3.27 goals against average and an .890 save percentage.
He was better in Boston. On a Bruins team that was six games under. 500, Korpisalo was 11-10-3 with a 2.90 GAA and a .893 save percentage. Was that the result of a smaller workload — he started just 24 of Boston’s 82 games — the benefit of working with Bob Essensa or simply the benefit of a change of scenery?
Probably some casserole of each of those. But since he’s playing better, Korpisalo would like to do so more often.
“You just try to put everything you have out there, make your mark to gain some playing time, but you just do what’s best for you every day, and try your best and work hard, and that way you might earn some more playing time,” he said. “But it’s sometimes not up to me, who’s going to play more. And whatever the role it is, you do the best you can in that role.”
Overall he’s enjoyed being in Boston.
“Enjoy it a lot. I mean, it’s, first of all, it’s a massive hockey town,” he said. “And everyone breathes through the hockey and you can sense it anywhere you go here. It’s pretty cool. Just great people here”
Korpisalo is 30 and under contract for three more seasons. He was asked Thursday if he’d be O.K. if his role stayed the same.
“I don’t think there’s any goalie in the league who’s really comfortable playing 20 to 25 games,” he said. “So I’m going to push for more games, for sure, and we’ll see what happens. I’ll do my best, and we’ll see.”
