Ottawa Senators head coach D.J. Smith announced that goaltender Joonas Korpisalo is day-to-day with an injury and will not play in Friday’s game against the New York Islanders.
Korpisalo, 29, left practice early on Thursday as he was still dealing with this injury, one that caused him to sit out of last Saturday’s game against the Minnesota Wild. It’s unclear was to what the injury is, but it shouldn’t keep him out for too long. Smith mentioned that Korpisalo missing Friday’s game is due to him not being healthy enough to serve as the backup.
Korpisalo has been a bit inconsistent to start his tenure as a Senator, with a 5-4-0 record and a .906% save percentage in 11 games, although his 1.17 5v5 goals saved above expected indicates that he’s bailed out the team a little bit. Should he keep that up, it’ll be just the third season in his career that he’s finished with a positive 5v5 goals saved above expected, as he went six straight seasons with it in the negative in between his other two positive seasons, his 2015-16 rookie season and his 2022-23 season that earned him his current contract.
Korpisalo was a former third-round pick of the Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2012 NHL Draft, and spent parts of eight seasons in Columbus before he was dealt to the Los Angeles Kings at the 2023 trade deadline to help their goaltending. He then signed with the Senators in the offseason to a five-year contract with a $4 million cap hit.
With Korpisalo out for Friday’s game, Anton Forsberg will get the start, while Mads Sogaard will be backing up for him. Forsberg has a 3-3-0 record, an .860% save% and a -4.63 5v5 goals saved above expected, while Sogaard has yet to get into any NHL action this season and has a 4-3-0 record and a .923% save% in eight games in the AHL with the Belleville Senators.
The Senators will look to carry the momentum from their trip to Sweden into Friday’s game against the Islanders, which starts at 7:30 p.m. EST. Due to only playing 15 games so far this season, the Sens currently sit in last place in the Atlantic Division with an 8-7-0 record, but are five points behind the Philadelphia Flyers for the final wild card spot with four games in hand.
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