Stanley Cup Playoffs: Top 3 goalies who got our attention this postseason

Joonas Korpisalo

Last postseason, the Columbus Blue Jackets snuck into a playoff spot and delivered one of the biggest upsets the NHL has ever seen. Up against one of the best regular-season teams statistically of all-time, Artemi Panarin, Matt Duchene, and Sergei Bobrovsky helped the Blue Jackets sweep the number one seed Tampa Bay Lightning.

While that story was the talk of town, this Blue Jackets team would have to earn respect this season, as the three players listed above were all playing elsewhere.

All these missing pieces could have killed this franchise, especially losing a Vezina winner in Bobrovsky. But that question was answered during this season, as both netminders on the roster played well enough to help this team back into the playoffs.

While Joonas Korpisalo and Elvis Merzlikins split time this season in net, head coach John Tortorella elected to go with Korpisalo (19-12-5, 2.60 GAA, .911 SV%) to start the playoffs against a high-caliber offense in the Toronto Maple Leafs

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In this series, the Finnish netminder helped the Blue Jackets to a 3-1 series victory, posting a 1.25 GAA and a .956 SV%, leading to a matchup with a familiar team in the Tampa Bay Lightning. While the Blue Jackets had a very different team than from a year prior, the rivalry was still very much alive.

The first game of this series would need five overtime periods (fourth-longest game in NHL history) before Brayden Point picked up a game-winner on a seeing eye shot. Korpisalo in this game was brilliant, stopping 85 of 88 in the loss, garnering well-deserved attention. He set an NHL record for the most saves in a playoff game, passing Islanders’ Kelly Hrudey, who stopped 73 shots in April of 1987.

This series would show more of the same from Korpisalo. In the five-games, the 26-year old netminder posted a .932 SV%, with a 2.80 GAA. He faced a total of 206 shots, stopping 192 of them.

In total, his stat line of 3-5, with a .941 SV% and a 1.90 GAA was far from anything that could have been expected. His opponents in the Maple Leafs and the Lightning both ranked in the top five this regular season as well as this postseason in shots per game.

Losing is never something a netminder wants, posting a 1-4 record in their last series. But he did everything and more that he could do for his team. In the first postseason run of his career, he was able to record a GSAA of 7.67, shattering his regular-season mark of 1.14.

The question mark that this team had in net to start the season has been converting to an exclamation point as Korpisalo has earned the trust of his management group to be that guy, filling the hole that superstar Bobrovsky left behind.