Colorado Avalanche fans and players are worrying about the news that broke today. Starting goaltender Darcy Kuemper is out for Game 2 tonight. He mysteriously left Game 1 midway through, seemingly uninjured. However, we learned after the game he was suffering from blurry vision.
Avalanche’s Darcy Kuemper won’t play in Game 2 vs. Edmonton Oilers. It’s Pavel Francouz’s net. https://t.co/Pn4HXp4kB8 via @denverpost
— Mike Chambers (@MikeChambers) June 2, 2022
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Darcy Kuemper Out For Game 2
While there is no clear reason stated for Kuemper’s absence, it seems the blurry vision might be the suspect. Kuemper was hit in the mask by two hard shots in Game 1 and skated over to the bench to tell head coach Jared Bednar. Pavel Francouz replaced him shortly after.
Kuemper has been the mainstay goaltender for the Avalanche the entire season. In the playoffs, he’s started all of Colorado’s games and has been playing well. Through 10 games in the postseason, he’s sported a 2.65 goals against average and a .897 save percentage. While these numbers aren’t mind-boggling, they’re good enough to help Colorado win games. In the regular season, Kuemper posted a 37-12-4 record with a .921 save percentage and a 2.54 GAA. Again, nothing crazy, but solid numbers that the Avalanche can rely on.
What This Means For the Avalanche
With Darcy Kuemper out, Francouz will need to be that reliable goaltender for Colorado. In what’s likely to be another high-scoring game (and series), he will need to face the onslaught of shots and stand tall. While the Avalanche may have scored eight goals in Game 1, it’s unlikely they can keep that pace for multiple games in a row. They will need to rely on their goaltender to make some saves in order to keep them in the game. Francouz has never really been a mainstay starting goaltender for the Avalanche, working behind Philipp Grubauer last season and Kuemper this season. But now it is his time to prove he can keep pucks out of the back of his net.
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