Insider: Could Korpisalo Be Overtaking Swayman For Top Option in Bruins' Goal?

With two shutouts in his last four games, and a 3-0-1 mark over that time, it appears that Joonas Korpisalo could be taking over the top goaltender's job from Jeremy Swayman in Boston. At least for now.

Swayman, who held out for all of training camp in a contract dispute, has been dreadful to start the year, with an .884 save percentage and a 3.47 goals against average, all exacerbated by surrendering 12 goals in his last two starts. Korpisalo, on the other hand, has a .911 Sv% and a 2.38 GAA.

Bruins reporter Jimmy Murphy says "(Korpisalo) is 1A now, Swayman is 1B, and the Bruins will return to a tandem like they had with Swayman and Ullmark. That may switch at some point, but for now, Korpisalo is 1A."

Insider Elliotte Friedman, on his 32 Thoughts Podcast on Friday, suggested something similar after Korpisalo turned away all 21 shots in a 1-0 win over Utah Thursday night:

After watching Korpisalo get the win, I'm curious to see who is going to be their starting goaltender on Saturday. Does Korpisalo get a bit of a run? It wouldn't hurt Swayman to just practice with their great goalie coach Bob Essensa.

As Friedman also noted, the Bruins can't fool around anymore—they need to start winning games, period. They have a new coach in tow now in Joe Sacco, and they sit at 9-9-3, in 4th place in the Atlantic Division.

"Long-term, obviously Swayman's the guy, and I think we will eventually look back at this as a speed bump in his career, and he will work things out," said Friedman in summing it all up.

The Bruins better hope so, as they signed the 25-year-old Swayman, after all that preseason drama that played out in the media, to an eight-year, $66 million deal ($8.25M AAV).