There’s a lot of anxiety around the beatings taken by Joonas Korpisalo in the middle of this NHL season, so the fact the Finnish backup is getting the first start now that the Boston Bruins have returned home from their semi-successful west-coast swing, it’s about more than the numbers with the “Korporal.”
The Bruins, plainly, have played like crap in front of Korpisalo. They’ve saved their worst hockey of the season for him. Susceptible to the blowout loss on the road, especially in games they find themselves chasing early with too much chance taking, exacerbated by their propensity for desperate hockey penalties, the Bruins need to be better to their goaltenders in general and especially to Korpisalo.
Dustin Wolf, the only AHL goalie better than Brandon Bussi in 2022-23, is starting for Calgary.
Marco Sturm continues to keep David Pastrnak and Morgan Geekie apart in an apparent attempt to achieve some scoring balance. The Bruins seem to oscillate between a team that gets goals from anywhere short of Assistant Equipment Manager Matt Falconer and a team that needs production from Pasta and Geeks or else. The key from this view is Geekie’s slump (last goal Dec. 20, 2025, vs. Vancouver at TD Garden) is to get him the puck on his off wing. That is, the left wing for the right-handed shot (stick inside). That’s how and from where Geekie scores; everything with him comes from the middle or from the left.
We’ve gone over these comps before: Mike Knuble, placed on LW by Coach Robbie Ftorek in 2002-03 after Bill Guerin had left the Bruins for Dallas in free agency, went from struggling right winger to 30-goal left winger, inspiring Montreal Coach Claude Julien to dub the Bruins’ top line “The 700 Pound Line.”
During “Oh Canada,” the Calgary Flames correctly lined up to face the Canadian flag at the west end of TD Garden. Almost all teams face east toward the American flag for both anthems.
Tonight’s line charts:
GAME BLOG
FIRST PERIOD
Not a ton happening in the first 10 minutes, but Pavel Zacha found himself in the rare position of making a soft pass high in the zone that was picked off. Korpisalo stood tall in the wake of that mishap.
Alex Steeves got a nice shot on goal from a covered spot high in the right circle, spinning on the puck and making his delivery accurate, forcing Dustin Wolf to be on point.
Taking a page from the books of the Big M, Frank Mahovlich, and the late, great Guy Lafleur, Sean Kuraly took a pass from Tanner Jeannot, weaving across the zone from right to left and whipped a wrist shot past Wolf at 9:48 for a 1-0 Boston lead. Charlie McAvoy made the secondary assist on the scoring play.
Elias Lindholm smacks home a shot from the left circle at 12:06 to make it 2-0 Boston. Assists from David Pastrnak, his 30th of the season, and Marat Khusnutdinov.
Wolf makes a blocker save to keep Calgary in the game.
Mikael Backlund and Mark Kastelic confront one another high in the Boston slot, then Kastelic nearly knocks Backlund into the Boston bench, earning an interference minor. At the same time, a wrestling match breaks out between Blake Coleman and Mason Lohrei. Lohrei gets the takedown but no penalty. Coleman gets the minor that balances the books with 23.3 seconds left in the first period. Bizarre sequence, and with Ryan Lomberg on the Calgary bench and Jeannot on Boston’s, we probably haven’t heard the last of it with 40 minutes of hockey remaining. Next goal will probably dictate the if, when and who of Round 2.
Shots after the first period: 13-7 Boston. The Flames lost 4-1 last night in Montreal. Not a tough turnaround, but the Flames will try to avoid a fourth-straight loss before this game turns into a night in the Octagon.
SECOND PERIOD
The Bruins own the 4v4 but cannot score. They take that momentum forward into a stretch of 5v5 dominance but get too cute and pass up shots for perfect plays that always fall one step short of materializing.
The Bruins should have made Wolf make some saves.
The Flames bounce back and Korpisalo has to get involved.
Charlie McAvoy is hobbled after taking a Joel Farabee shot off the inside the of knee. McAvoy goes to the bench but stays in the game.
Backlund gets the stick into Zacha’s skates as the Boston center tries to skate the puck out of the defensive zone, and the Bruins go to the powerplay at 7:17 of the second period.
This is a classic case of the third goal seeming imminent all period but not forthcoming as of yet, and should Calgary score the next goal, the Bruins’ mastery of this game will suddenly turn into nail-biting drama.
There it is: McAvoy off for interference, so 4v4 for 1:34 followed by a 26-second powerplay for Calgary, who has a player open in the high slot and rings the post to the left of Korpisalo.
The regret is so predictable yet so unavoidable.
Matt Coronato from the right circle, and Korpisalo does the splits to get his left pad on the shot. TD Garden roars its approval.
2-on-1 the other way, but Kastelic shanks Kuraly’s goalmouth pass – another shot passed up.
The Aspirot-McAvoy pairing has time but doesn’t make a clean play, and Korpisalo has to make another big save.
Lohrei dekes big Adam Klapka and No. 1 defenseman Rasmus Andersson on the same move off the left point and beats Wolf to make it 3-0. Huge play by Lohrei.
Backlund in the slot, Korpisalo nabs the puck with his trapper. He’s face just 14 shots, but most of them have been from threatening positions. It’s still 23:34 from the finish line, but the Korporal is having a game.
Casey Mittelstadt converts his own rebound to make it 4-0 past a screen on Wolf with 2:01 remaining in the second period.
Connor Zary has room to shovel the puck over Korpisalo’s blocker with 1:16 left in the period, and it’s a 4-1 game.
Shots at second intermission: 22-16 Boston
THIRD PERIOD
The Flames are 15 minutes from losing 4-1 on the road for the second straight night (Montreal on Wednesday).
Aspirot trips Lomberg, powerplay Calgary. Korpisalo gets his mask rattled on a shot and stops play. He’s OK.
Still over 12 minutes of hockey if Calgary can connect on PP.
Kuraly has Kastelic behind the Flames D, Wolf covers it.
Klapka knocks Kuraly’s helmet off. Kuraly gets up, grabs his helmet off the ice, puts it on but does not secure the straps, makes a puck play, then goes to the bench. Is that legal?
Interference (holding) on Farabee with 8:23 left in regulation. It’s a party atmosphere on Thursday night at TD Garden, where the Bruins have an opportunity to put a bonnet on it.
McAvoy shot-pass tipped by Elias Lindholm, save Wolf.
Yegor Sharangovich gets a short-handed chance but rips his shot off the glass.
Calgary gets the kill but only has six minutes to score three unanswered goals. Farabee gets the puck high slot but passes into traffic. Not a winning decision.
On the second of back-to-back’s, the Flames seems to lack a pulse tonight. Even the scrappy edge with which they play has appeared tonight only briefly.
TV timeout with 4:26 remaining. We’re wrapping this up. Follow @MickColageo on X for any further updates.
Drive safely.
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