Practice Report: Korpisalo to get his chance vs. Pittsburgh

As the Blue Jackets took to the ice Thursday for practice ahead of tonight's game vs. Pittsburgh, two goaltenders were on the ice.
For most NHL teams, that's normal, but that was one short of a full house for Columbus. While Joonas Korpisalo and Keith Kinkaid began practice, Sergei Bobrovsky was not seen on the PPG Paints Arena ice.
Eventually, 10 minutes into practice, Bobrovsky joined the two netminders but did not face live shots during the full team drills, instead working off to the side on skating and fundamentals with goalie coach Manny Legace.
Afterward, head coach John Tortorella said Bobrovsky would be given the night off vs. the Penguins, with Korpisalo starting and Kinkaid serving as the backup.

Having three goalies gives the team some flexibility, and when looking at the schedule, Tortorella said this seemed like a good time to rest Bobrovsky, who has started eight games in a row and 14 of 15.
"We feel he's played a lot of hockey," Tortorella said. "This was a game we wanted to give to Korpi and try to get Bob a little bit of rest and kind of work on his game. Bob is a guy that needs some days sometimes to work on certain parts of his game that you can't do when you're playing as much as he has. This a good day for it.
"We have three goalies, and Bob has played a lot. I wasn't sure if I was going to play him in the back-to-back (Saturday and Sunday). I did. … He's been on the ice a lot. This is situation where he has a few days to work."

The team did something similar in early December, opting to start Korpisalo on Dec. 11 vs. Vancouver three days after a poor team showing vs. Washington. The rested Bobrovsky was back in net Dec. 13 and ripped off a 5-0-1 stretch in the next 11 days while allowing just seven goals in six starts.
As for Korpisalo, his last start was Feb. 18 as he gave up five goals in a loss to Tampa Bay. He also stopped all five shots he faced Saturday in a period of relief vs. Edmonton. He has made two starts in his career vs. Pittsburgh and lost both, though he has some big game experience - think of consecutive wins vs. Nashville and Washington in January - under his belt.

"I think it's huge," he said. "It's going to be fun to play in this building today. A huge game for us, and I hope we're going to help the team to win today."
In other lineup news, forward Riley Nash will return to the lineup in place of Markus Hannikainen, while the defensive corps will swap out Dean Kukan for Adam McQuaid.
Keep it simple: The Blue Jackets couldn't help but acknowledge the team didn't play anything close to its best game while beating a banged-up New Jersey team on Tuesday, and Tortorella left the game with two pieces of advice for his team.
First, it could take a lesson from the Devils, who dressed more forwards who have spent the bulk of the year at the AHL level than the NHL level. But those players, many of whom were just getting their feet wet in the NHL, brought a hair-on-fire level of effort and won a number of individual battles vs. the Blue Jackets.
So boosting the work rate is key, but so is playing with confidence. The word fun is once Tortorella used a couple of times, and the way to have fun is just to let loose and play.
After a few games in which the team has seemed overwhelmed by the expectations surrounding it since the trade deadline, Tortorella's message now is simple - just "go play."
"We've had a lot of meetings after the deadline," Tortorella said. "I think we've played probably two good games since the deadline. We've done a lot of talking in trying to figure out really what's going on with our club.
"We have to stop that. We just have to go out and play. I'm going to give them two points (of focus) tonight. If it's the regular season, game 30, I'd give them seven or eight points that I think we need to improve on. (Tonight) I'm giving them two very simple points, and then I'd just like to open the gate, like a bunch of horses, letting them out, and go play."