Joonas Korpisalo makes long-awaited return in hopes of stabilizing Rangers net

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SEATTLE — To say the Rangers got Joonas Korpisalo back in their 18th game of the season Saturday afternoon wouldn’t be entirely accurate, considering the team barely had the Finnish netminder to begin with. 

Korpisalo dressed as the Rangers’ backup for one singular game — the season-opening shutout loss in Boston — before a foot infection sidelined him for the next month. The Rangers announced the 32-year-old’s timeline to return simultaneously with the season-altering news of Igor Shesterkin’s season-ending injury, which unfolded just five games after the team put Korpisalo on injured reserve. 

So for the first five and a half weeks of the season, the Blueshirts had to endure and adapt without their original goaltending plan. 

“It’s tough,” head coach Mike Sullivan said before Korpisalo made his Rangers debut against the Kraken. “That presents a unique challenge when both of your goalies get hurt for as long as they have to this point. I give the guys a lot of credit. They never look for excuses. It’s next-man-up mindset. Dylan Garand has done a real good job in goal for us, kind of taking the lead with respect to that. To get Korpy back is huge for us. He’s obviously a quality goaltender. It gives us the ability to share the workload a little bit. We’re excited to get him back in the mix, but I think the guys did a great job. 

“Nobody’s looking for excuses. We’re trying to win with the group that we have, and the expectations don’t change. That’s the mindset. That’s the approach we’ve all taken.” 

Entering Saturday’s game at Climate Pledge Arena, the Rangers had gone 5-5-1 since losing Shesterkin to a right knee injury that consisted of more than one structural issue. Shesterkin underwent his surgery, according to a source, and Sullivan has said he’s been around the team. 

Garand was the one to relieve Shesterkin in net in Washington, and the rookie netminder had appeared between the pipes in every single game for the Rangers since then — even when that wasn’t the intention. 

It’s been a big ask of a 24-year-old who came into the season with just three NHL games to his name. 

Among the 11 NHL goaltenders who have appeared in at least 12 games so far this season entering Saturday’s slate of games, Garand’s .906 save percentage ranks fourth behind only the Wild’s Jeremy Wallstedt (.922), the Bruins’ Jeremy Swayman (.913) and the Stars’ Jake Oettinger (.909). 

His 2.52 goals-against average is also good for the fourth-best in the league, currently beating out the likes of Andrei Vasilevskiy (2.75). 

While rebound control and stopping pucks off the rush have sometimes been a challenge, Garand has mostly delivered under the circumstances. The immense workload and emotional whiplash of the start to the season would overwhelm most players, but Garand has shown a maturity and mental fortitude befitting a full-time goaltender in the NHL.

That’s an encouraging sign for a Rangers team that may have to rely on a rookie in goal for the remainder of the season. 

The Rangers are banking on Korpisalo stabilizing the team’s schedule in goal and, at the very least, alleviating some of Garand’s workload. When Sullivan tried to do so following Garand’s seventh straight start, the organization signed James Reimer off his professional tryout with the team’s AHL affiliate in Hartford and put him in against the Kings. 

Reimer, who had been training with two junior teams, gave up two goals on the first two shots he saw before getting the hook after letting up three on eight shots. 

Sullivan put his hand up for putting Reimer in an almost impossible position, which subsequently deprived Garand of the rest he desperately needed at that moment in time. As a result, Garand played in 12 consecutive games before he got this break on Saturday. 

On Saturday, the Rangers put Reimer on unconditional waivers for the purposes of contract termination. 

The addition of Korpisalo, however, should provide some much-needed relief in goal. How the Rangers deploy both Korpisalo and Garand moving forward is yet to be seen, but it will naturally be based on performance. 

“Well, there was buildup, obviously, to Korpi’s return to play, just as far as workload in practice and then getting 10 people in front of him in a game situation,” Sullivan said. “That’s sometimes difficult to simulate in practice. Based on the progression of the workload, that’s when we felt that, from a readiness standpoint, that Korpi is in a position to succeed.”