SvoNotes: Korpisalo's sterling debut highlights setback vs. Detroit

The Blue Jackets might be trending toward having a good problem to have.
Through three games of the season, Columbus has two goalies who have played like No. 1s in Elvis Merzlikins and Joonas Korpisalo.
The Latvian started each of the first two games and was tremendous, stopping 55 of 58 shots in that span while going 2-0 for a .948 save percentage. Then Korpisalo followed him up Tuesday night in Detroit in a 4-1 loss by making 41 saves on 43 shots against for a .953 save percentage of his own.

Korpisalo, in fact, was the Blue Jackets' best player by about an order of magnitude, turning in the kind of showing that nearly allowed Columbus to steal a point or two in a game that was far from the team's best effort.
"I don't think I even have to say anything," head coach Brad Larsen said. "He was outstanding. He was the only reason we had a chance to stay in the game. He was our best player. It wasn't even close."

And it started from the word go, as Red Wings fourth liner Givani Smith sped in past the CBJ defense in the opening seconds and fired a shot from the left circle that Korpisalo parried aside. He had seven saves by the first media timeout and kept racking them up, eventually making 31 in the first two periods in his first start of the season.
Included was a denial of Michael Rasmussen at the front of the net on a nice feed from Adam Erne, his scissors-like stop to deny Dylan Larkin during a long Detroit 5-on-3 in the second, and back-to-back saves on the power play in Lucas Raymond early in the third period.
"I felt good from the get-go -- comfortable," Korpisalo said postgame. "Guys did a good job in front of the net and let me see the puck, so I felt good."
Perhaps one of the reasons was a couple of strategic changes to his game discussed over the summer with goalie coach Manny Legace. Korpisalo has always been at his best when his game quiets down, though that's not always been an easy place to get to considering much of his career has been spent in a reserve role as he's always had to battle for time with Sergei Bobrovsky and now Merzlikins.
But while he was brilliant at times in the 2019-20 season when he was named an NHL All-Star, Korpisalo saw his numbers decline to a 9-13-7 record, 3.30 GAA and .894 save percentage a season ago. His stats were perhaps a symptom of a larger disease -- really, no one had a year to write home about last year for Columbus -- but he did talk with Legace over the summer about a few changes, with those leading to some success against the Wings.
"I just had the mind-set of playing a little bit deeper than I used to be, so I'm always square to the puck and that's how I can control things a little bit better," Korpisalo said.
And that more simple approach seemed to work, he said.
"Yeah, 100 percent," Korpisalo said. "I got shots that went straight into the logo (on my sweater), stuff like that. I felt less busy than I usually feel."
In the end, he was victimzed by a pair of transition goals in the third period. Raymond had been denied multiple times on the night by Korpisalo but the No. 4 overall pick in the 2020 draft got on the board with his first NHL goal when he scored on a rush, beating Korpisalo shortside from the left circle in the third period. Tyler Bertuzzi then doubled the advantage with a goal on an odd-man rush, coming in along the right side and snapping a shot over Korpisalo's blocker.
They were good goals in tough situations, and Korpisalo's teammates knew it, lauding him with praise after the game.
"He gave us a chance," Jenner said. "You could see it all night. He made some huge saves and gave us a chance, but we weren't good enough in front of him."
Korpisalo still admitted he took little solace, though, as the loss was what he cared about most rather than any sort of individual success. But after watching from the bench the first two games, he did acknowledge that being on the ice was much rather where he'd want to be.
"It was fun to play hockey today, that's for sure," Korpisalo said with a smile.

Otherwise...

Other than Korpisalo, there really wasn't much positive to drive home for the Blue Jackets.
Jenner did get another power-play goal for the team, its third in three games. Adam Boqvist had a really nice night, the penalty kill held on (killing all four penalties), and Yegor Chinakhov didn't look overwhelmed at all in his NHL debut.
But the pickins were slim otherwise, as Columbus chased the game from the opening faceoff. Detroit finished with a 45-23 edge in shots on goal and a 2.84-1.71 advantage on expected goals at 5-on-5, a mark that went up to 5.75-2.20 in all situations thanks to some seriously buzzing Red Wings power plays.
Simply put, it just wasn't the team's best game.
"We were just slow the whole game," Larsen acknowledged. "They were way better, way hungrier. We chased the game the whole night. It was pretty simple. It wasn't just that we were bad, they were good. They were all over us. Our goalie gave us a chance, our penalty kill did the job, and we couldn't find a way to kick it into gear. We had a couple of shifts in the third, but that was it."
And as the old song goes, mama said there would be days like this. With Columbus entering the season with the youngest roster in the NHL, the Blue Jackets are going to have off nights, and game three of 82 was one of them.
It was just a disorganized performance, as there were very few areas you could say clicked. The breakouts were sloppy, passes often were broken up or simply never ended up at their intended targets, and the forecheck never really got established.
"They are a fast team," Jenner said. "We knew it was going to be a fast game. I think they just had more jump. They were getting to loose pucks. They were coming back hard, and we weren't giving ourselves good enough pucks to get on, get our game established and get our forecheck going."

A bit of a shuffle

To work Chinakhov into the lineup, Columbus changed a few things up at the start.
Jenner finished the Seattle game Saturday centering the top line with Patrik Laine and Jakub Voracek and got the start there Tuesday night as well. That dropped Alexandre Texier down to the third line with rookie center Cole Sillinger, and to avoid putting Chinakhov onto what perhaps would have been the youngest trio in the NHL, he went in with Oliver Bjorkstrand and Jack Roslovic while Gus Nyquist was penciled in with Sillinger and Texier.
By the time the third period rolled around, though, and the Jackets were struggling, Jenner and Laine were put with Bjorkstrand while Voracek skated with Roslovic and Nyquist. And when it came to 5-on-5 play, Sillinger was largely the odd man out.
"It was one of those games where he was fighting it for me, but he'll be fine," Larsen said of the 18-year-old. "It was one of those games, and he wasn't the only one, trust me. But I felt like he was kind of struggling tonight. He'll learn. He's a resilient kid. We'll talk and move forward."
Chinakhov, meanwhile, had a pretty solid debut. The Russian forward, taken in the first round of the 2020 draft, skated an even 12:00 with two shots on goal, two more shot attempts and a CBJ edge of 10 shots to four against when he was on the ice at 5-on-5.
His best scoring chance came in the first period when he came in on an odd-man rush with Roslovic and fired a one-timer into the pad of Greiss, who made an excellent save.
"I actually thought he was OK," Larsen said. "He was at least skating. Jack makes a nice play over to him, and if he gets it up, he gets his first there, but a great save by their goalie. But he skated pretty well tonight. For his first hockey game, he was one of the brighter spots for us."

Stats and Facts

• Columbus was shooting for the first-ever 3-0-0 start in franchise history but fell short. The Jackets were 2-0-0 for just the third time ever.
• With an assist on Jenner's power-play goal, Voracek is now just two assists away from 100 in a CBJ sweater, with most of those dating back to his original stint with the Jackets.
• Only 23 of the Jackets' 50 shot attempts in the game were on net, with 12 blocked and 15 missing the target.
• Chinakhov was the third player to make his NHL debut this season with the team, joining Sillinger and Gregory Hofmann. Boqvist, Jake Bean and Sean Kuraly also have made their CBJ debuts this season.
• Chinakhov became the 305th player all time to wear union blue, so maybe you can call him Mr. 305 -- unless that's already taken.
• The loss was Korpisalo's first ever against the Red Wings, as he had been 6-0-0 in seven appearances.
• The two Columbus goalies have combined to allow just five goals on 101 shots against in three games, a .950 save percentage.
• After going 11-1-0 over a four-season span against Detroit, Columbus is now just 4-4-1 in the last nine games over the past two seasons against the Wings.