A lot of being a netminder is about the mental game that comes with the position. They can sometimes be out on an island both literally and figuratively. They know that they are the last line of defense and having a strong mental side is important.
For the Blue Jackets as of late, they have had to come to rely on their goaltender Joonas Korpisalo more than they ever have after fellow netminder Elvis Merzlikins went down with an injury.
With the team spiraling downward, they needed Korpisalo to become the backbone of the team. They weren't going to bounce back without a solid goaltender. With Korpisalo playing every night, does the consistent play benefit him?
So far, yes. Since Merzlikins has been injured and Korpisalo has taken over the net, Korpisalo is back to playing at a league-average pace giving the team more of an opportunity to win every night. He is posting a .916 save percentage during that time and a record of 2-3-1.
It becomes all the more striking when taking a look at his deployment before Merzlikins' injury.
Before that injury when his deployment was more staggered and less consistent, he played in 13 games with a 5-4-3 record. His save percentage was a staggering .889 during that time.
Splitting and binning that data is always going to be an issue. You have a bunch of different sample size issues but it is fascinating to see how exactly Korpisalo is doing since Merzlikins injury itself.
Monitoring his play moving forward is going to be interesting as well. He is playing at a good pace and the team seems to be playing better as well. Are rising tides going to raise all ships or is it going to be an issue when deployment changes back to a normal schedule?
For now, the Blue Jackets will accept Korpisalo's strong play and run with it. Even in a small sample size, it is exciting to see that Korpisalo is playing better than he has all season.
