Boston Bruins

Bruins Postgame Takeaways: Korpisalo Flummoxes Flyers

Published

1 month ago

November 2, 2024

AP Photo/Matt Slocum

PHILADELPHIA– The Boston Bruins defeated the Philadelphia Flyers by a final of 3-0 on Saturday afternoon at Wells Fargo Center.

Joonas Korpisalo made 20 saves on 20 shots, while Matthew Poitras, Justin Brazeau, and Brad Marchand handled the scoring duties for Boston.

Philadelphia began the day with Samuel Ersson in the net, but he only managed to make eight saves before leaving in the first period and being replaced by Alexei Kolosov, who stopped 20 of 22 shots from the Bruins.

But that’s just the box score here. Here are the key takeaways from Broad Street.

Korpisalo Pitches Shutout:

There was a lot of concern surrounding Joonas Korpisalo heading into his first season with the Bruins and even more so after a disastrous debut on opening night in Florida.

That now seems so long ago after he collected his fifth career shutout on Saturday against the Flyers, stopping all 20 shots that came his way.

The low shot total against doesn’t mean that Korpisalo wasn’t challenged. On more than one occasion, he had to make a highlight reel save.

Perhaps none of which were bigger than when he had spread out across the crease to rob Morgan Frost of what looked to be a certain goal with his glove in the second period after Hampus Lindholm and Brandon Carlo took each other out of the play.

🛑🛑🛑 pic.twitter.com/dnqQwbHjor

— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) November 2, 2024

Doing The Dirty Work:

For the first time in ages, the Bruins played like the team they were built to be.

Boston continuously pushed to the dirty areas of the ice, looking to score off second and third chances. That strategy paid off at 13:28 of the first period when Matthew Poitras collected a shot by Hampus Lindholm that ricocheted off the end boards and neatly tucked into the Philadelphia net for his first goal of the season.

Matty P puts us on the board 💯 pic.twitter.com/j880DaZrWV

— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) November 2, 2024

It’s plays like these that have been startlingly absent for the Bruins lately. They’ve fallen accustomed to trying to make the perfect play by seeking the perfect pass that leads to the perfect shot.

That may work for teams whose lineups are full of skaters with top-end skill, but not the Bruins. They are not constructed to rely on pretty goals. They have to work the puck into the dirty areas.

Those kind of goals won’t light up social media, but they’ll still light the lamp all the same.

Bruins Lines:

Marchand – E. Lindholm – Pastrnak

Zacha – Coyle – Brazeau

Frederic – Poitras – Geekie

Beecher – Kastelic – Koepke

Zadorov – McAvoy

H. Lindholm – Carlo

Lohrei – Wotherspoon

Korpisalo

Swayman

Up Next:

The Bruins will complete their back-to-back set when they return home on Sunday to face the Seattle Kraken. Puck drop from TD Garden is slated for 5 p.m. EST.