It's Jeremy Swayman's net, but a strong showing in the season opener could open the door for Joonas Korpisalo to carve out more playing time with the Bruins as he looks to bounce back from a horrendous season with the Senators.
On every game day this season, THN Fantasy be highlighting goalies for fantasy managers to stream or roster for the rest of the season. A separate article will be provided for players. The recommended players and goalies can be used in standard fantasy leagues or for daily fantasy games.
Games for Tuesday, Oct. 7
Jordan Binninton, STL at Philipp Grubauer, SEA (4:30 p.m. ET)
Joonas Korpisalo, BOS at Sergei Bobrovsky, FLA (7 p.m. ET)
Petr Mrazek, CHI at Connor Ingram, UTA (10 p.m. ET)
Goalies
Joonas Korpisalo, BOS at FLA (45% rostered)
Head coach Jim Montgomery had noted even before Jeremy Swayman re-signed that Korpisalo would get the start since Swayman had missed all of training camp. I wish Korpisalo's first assignment wasn't so difficult, otherwise he would be a top-tier streaming option.
However, this is Korpisalo's first big chance to carve out a timeshare. It's Swayman's net, but if Korpisalo has a strong showing, he can push for more starts. Swayman's never had a big workload before, splitting starts with Linus Ullmark in past seasons, and Korpisalo should be plenty motivated if he wants to put a disastrous one-season stint with the Sens behind him.
The good news for Korpisalo is the Bruins are basically at full strength with captain Brad Marchand healthy and ready to go despite getting three (!) surgeries over the summer, and the only absentee will be Matthew Poitras, who's out with an undisclosed injury.
I'm not a huge fan of this start, but if you want to get the most out of Korpisalo after drafting him thinking that Swayman would remain unsigned for much longer (as I did), this is your chance to capitalize.
Petr Mrazek, CHI at UTA (11% rostered)
Obviously, Utah is the better team but there's no denying the Hawks' roster is miles better than what they had last season. For one thing, all of their regulars are healthy to start the season save for Laurent Brossoit, but he's not a factor since Mrazek's likely getting the start.
I don't mind gambling on this start but keep in mind this is Utah's first ever home opener, so the crowd should be raucous and the home team should have a distinct advantage here.
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