Korpisalo wants to keep improving after signing contract extension

Given his an opportunity at the NHL level to take a job and run with it earlier this season, Joonas Korpisalo learned a lot.

"(I learned) that consistency, how you have to be on your game night in and night out, makes the difference of a bad night and a good night really small," Korpisalo said on a conference call with Columbus and national media Monday. "You have to keep your level every single night. That's something I learned this season. That's something you have to maintain to be a top goalie in the league."

He also proved that he could do just that, helping backstop the Blue Jackets to a run at the Stanley Cup Playoffs at the time of the coronavirus pause in mid-March.

In all, Korpisalo is 19-12-5 with a 2.60 goals-against average and .911 save percentage in a career-high 37 games to this point. In his last 27 appearances, Korpisalo is 14-8-4 with a 2.31 GAA and .920 save percentage and two shutouts; in his last 15 games, he has been even better, posting an 8-2-4 mark with a 2.21 GAA and .926 save percentage.

Add in his All-Star berth, one he unfortunately did not get to enjoy thanks to a late-December knee injury that cost him six weeks of the season, and Korpisalo has showed he deserved that time in net, not to mention the faith Blue Jackets brass placed in him going into the campaign.

And more than that, he earned the two-year contract extension he signed with the team Friday.

"I think I took some steps forward and I certainly believe that there are a lot of steps still to be taken, and I'm working hard for it," Korpisalo said. "I think there's some stuff that I have done the right way to earn this."

There were questions about how he would jump into a bigger role after the departure of Sergei Bobrovksy, as Korpisalo had been the Russian's top reserve the past three seasons after jumping in and performing admirably in a 31-game cameo thanks to injuries as a 21-year-old rookie in 2015-16.

That began a common theme for Korpisalo's first four years in the league that he tended to play better the more work he received, and general manager Jarmo Kekalainen has pointed out that the backup goalie job might be the hardest in the NHL considering Korpisalo would sometimes play only once every couple weeks when Bobrovsky was healthy.

The Blue Jackets had seen enough in four years of working with Korpisalo that they felt comfortable going into the season with the Finnish netminder joined by rookie Elvis Merzlikins as the goaltending duo.

"We all thought he was extremely talented," Kekalainen said when asked about if club brass had always seen that level of play in Korpisalo. "I think the mental side of being able to handle the pressure of playing more and carrying the load more, carrying the responsibility more, that is one thing to see. Also the physical side of playing, sometimes back-to-backs or three games in a week rather than one game in three weeks, it's just completely different (from his previous role) but he prepared himself hard for the challenge and showed us he can do it."

Now, for Korpisalo, the focus will be on continuing to get better. One area in which he did see improvement this year and wants to continue focusing on is the mental side of the game, especially when it comes to letting the game come to him.

There were times early in the season where Korpisalo's emotions got the better of him, but he said he saw improvement in his game when that was not the case as the year went on.

"There's always a lot of things to improve on, whether it's on the ice or off the ice," Korpisalo said. "Something I've been working on throughout the season is just being as calm as possible and not trying to do too much on the ice. It's something that's hard to explain, but that's something I've been working on. I think I took some steps, and there's a lot of stuff I still need to improve on but I think that's the most important stuff."

Kekalainen said the next step is to add Merzlikins to a new deal as well to keep the goaltending tandem together, which could lead to battles for playing time, something Korpisalo acknowledged Monday. But the two goalies get along well and the spirit of healthy competition is something Korpisalo embraces as he signs to stay in Columbus for the coming seasons.

"I have always felt like I had it in myself, and now to sign a two-year contract, I'm really honored," he said. "It's really the place I want to be and I'm just happy to stay in Columbus and make the best of myself."