CBJ Today: Korpisalo makes the highlight reels

Each weekday this season, BlueJackets.com will post CBJ Today, a look at news, notes, analysis and fun stuff from around the Blue Jackets world. It's everything you need to know if you're a fan going into the day.

Korpisal-WHOA

You're not going to see two better saves than the diving stick/blocker saves CBJ goalie Joonas Koripsalo made last night.
It's hard enough to make one of those saves in a game; it's even more impossible to make two. (Frankly, the entire SportsCenter top 10 could have been his saves, as he also made a number of breakaway saves as well that kept Columbus in the game through the first 40 minutes).
The first robbery of Aleksander Barkov on the power play was incredible enough, a save of the year candidate. With Florida on the power play in the opening minutes of the game, a nice passing sequence found Barkov all alone at the far post. And Barkov is one of the top scorers in the league, entering the game in the top 10 in the NHL in points, so this is no fourth-line grinder who had this chance.
But the one thing working against Barkov was how deep he was toward the goal line, not giving him the greatest angle. Still, though - this is one of the league's most talented players with a mostly open net. 99 times out of 100, even if he has to throw it back across the face of goal a bit, the score is going up on the board.

Korpisalo made an incredible diving stop, though, reaching back across the net in a full acrobatic dive to get his stick and blocker out and make the save. But it wasn't his only incredible stop, as somehow, Korpisalo did it again on Gustav Forsling in the second period.
To me, now that I've watched both, this one might be the better save. They are pretty similar -- in each, Korpisalo had to challenge the initial shooter, but there was a backdoor pass open. In this case, Mason Marchment found Forsling all alone at the back post, but again Korpisalo used the paddle to make the stop.
I do think this one was a little harder to pull off than the first simply because it's hard enough to dive parallel to the goal line and make a save -- this one required Korpisalo to reach behind him with the stick, and Forsling had a slightly better angle than Barkov as well.

Either way, they were a pair of fantastic stops on a pretty good game on balance for Korpisalo. He admitted he wanted the first Florida goal back, a soft one, he admitted, but he also absolutely saved at least two goals with spectacular stops and should get credit as well for a bevy of big saves at key times as well.
Like any goalie, though, he was left ruing not getting the win.
"That's just desperation, you know, trying to get something in there," he said of the two stick saves. "Really quick plays. Just threw my stick there and the puck hit it, but yeah. Didn't help today. Especially letting in that first goal, (a) pretty easy (save). It didn't matter after all."

Trying, but it's Tough

Throughout the entire year, head coach John Tortorella has maintained his team's up-and-down nature has not been related to effort, but there's no doubt the team still hasn't consistently found its game.
Last night summed up the year in a lot of ways. There were three offensive zone penalties, two of which led to Florida power-play goals, and all three were the result of guys perhaps trying to do too much in individual battles to win pucks. Those are effort plays, but almost too much effort -- as a golfer who often hits it into the trees, sometimes you just have to live to fight another day. But you also can't complain when mistakes are coming from try hard.
Then there were the crucial misses, as Columbus seemingly had a number of looks at open nets but just couldn't put the puck away. Whether it's the result of squeezing sticks too much and trying to be too fine is hard to tell, but it was hard to believe how many golden chances just didn't go in (add in Korpisalo's saves and it could have been another 6-5 affair last night).
None was more noticeable, though, than Nick Foligno's miss on a 2-on-0 in close with Cam Atkinson with the Jackets down 3-1 early in the third period. In soccer, they'd say it was easier to make than miss, and you have to know it kept the captain up for much of last night.
On Monday, Foligno spoke a bit about his personal wish to contribute more to the offense, and he spent the end of practice Tuesday morning working on his shot off feeds from new linemate Boone Jenner.
"I know I'm counted on to score, and I have to find ways to do that," he said Monday.
And then that happens to him. Foligno wasn't among the Jackets made available to the media postgame, but Oliver Bjorkstrand articulated what it's like to have a miss like the one Foligno suffered.
"It's an annoying feeling," he said. "When you have the big chances and the odds are in your favor, you definitely want to score. I'm sure everybody is the same way when it comes to stuff. It bothers me when I miss a good chance. But that stuff happens. That's hockey."
It is hockey. But the highs wouldn't be the same without some of the lows. And you can bet the captain felt that one Tuesday night, but he'll also be the first one to bring the energy Wednesday to practice.