Korpisalo sets tone for Rangers in win over Flames

CALGARY – Joonas Korpisalo came up big for the New York Rangers on Wednesday making 29 saves. But one was bigger than the rest.

The highlight reel stop that had everyone talking in a 3-1 win over the Calgary Flames came four minutes into the game.

Carrying the puck in the Rangers zone, Zayne Parekh stepped around Eeli Tolvanen then dipsy doodled through Glenn Gawdin. As he darted toward the Rangers net, Parekh instead cut behind the net but his wraparound attempt was denied when Korpisalo, abandoning his goal stick, dove across the crease and stopped the puck on the line with the open hand of his blocker.

“Heck of a play by him. He got me swimming and it’s just straight desperation,” Korpisalo said. “Dropped my stick to get my leverage, to get my blocker there, and I got lucky.”

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Parekh was seen smiling afterwards.

“I was laughing at the play,” the 20-year-old defencman said. “Seemed a little bit outrageous. But yeah, it was outrageous that he got a blocker on it too. So, I mean, kudos to him.”

In a game that was just getting started in front of a lively home crowd at the Saddledome, it was a pivotal moment.

“That was huge,” Rangers defenceman Braden Schneider said. “They make a great play and get a great look, and he’s able to to come up with one. That’s a game changer. If that goes in, it’s a different look.”

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Instead, the Rangers struck first on Mika Zibanejad’s first of two goals, 59 seconds into the second.

New York has been excellent this season with the lead and Wednesday was no exception. The Rangers improved to 12-1-0 when opening the scoring.

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“That’s a huge save,” Zibanejad said. “Especially I feel like the first period, they had a bit of a push too, and for us to come out of it 0-0, and obviously that big save of his, I think that gives us a little bit of boost.”

Zibanejad made it 2-0 at 10:52 of the second wiring a setup from Pavel Dorofeyev past Devin Cooley on the power play. That would be the eventual game-winner.

Four wins in their last five has the Rangers third in the Metropolitan Division, three points back of the New Jersey Devils and three up on the Washington Capitals.

New York also opened the season winning four of its first five games before losing all-star goaltender Igor Shesterkin to a season-ending knee injury.

With Korpisalo also on the injured reserve with a lower-body injury sustained during the pre-season, it left the net to rookie Dylan Garand, who had started 10 of 11 before Korpisalo was activated on Friday.

In his first start, Korpisalo made 25 stops in a 4-3 victory over Seattle.

“Last couple games has been really good for us, especially defensively,” the 32-year-old said. “I saw the puck all night and all that. Yeah, it’s fun to play behind.”

Mike Sullivan said two trustworthy goalies again will be a big lift moving forward.

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“It gives us the ability to share the workload and I think the benefit of sharing the workload is potentially getting the best version of both guys because they’re both going to see action, but they’re both going to have the ability to recover,” the Rangers coach said.

“They’ll get some quality reps with our goalie coach that keeps their game sharp on the off days. So I think it could be it could be a real good tandem for us.”

Korpisalo is with his fifth NHL organization. After playing his first eight seasons with the Columbus Blue Jackets, He also had stops with Los Angeles and Ottawa before spending the last two seasons with Boston as Jeremy Swayman’s back-up.

New York acquired him from the Bruins on July 1 in exchange for a fourth-round pick and prospect Kalle Vaisanen.

“The guys are helping me a lot,” said Korpisalo. “There’s still some things I need to clean up in my game, but I’m happy with me winning.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2026.