Kuemper Out, Francouz In for Game 2
Colorado Avalanche goaltender Darcy Kuemper left Game 1 early after sustaining an upper body injury. Backup Pavel Francouz finished the game and got the win for the Avalanche.
At today's morning skate, Kuemper was not present. Francouz and Justus Annunen were the goalies for the practice.
Kuemper's absence is not a good sign, especially for tonight. Francouz was in the starter's net and coach Jared Bednar confirmed Kuemper is out for tonight.
At this point, we can only speculate about the nature of Kuemper's injury. At first, most onlookers believed he exited the game with equipment issues. Then it was reported he would not return with an upper body injury. Some speculate it can from a high shot he took earlier in the second period. Others believe it may be related to the eye injury he sustained in the first round. Understandably so, we will get no information from head coach Jared Bednar, "I'm not going to get into his injury, especially this time of year."
In Game 1, Francouz had 18 saves on 21 shots for a .857 save percentage. He is a full right netminder, which is a little bit of a different look for shooters. After Tuesday's shootout, a .857 save percentage just might be good enough in this high octane series.
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YESTERDAY
MAY 20, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Dylan Coghlan | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Pavel Dorofeyev | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Nic Dowd | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Brett Howden | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Gabriel Landeskog | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Valeri Nichushkin | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Rasmus Andersson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ross Colton | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jack Eichel | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Tomas Hertl | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ben Hutton | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nathan MacKinnon | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mitch Marner | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Brandon Saad | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Colton Sissons | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Devon Toews | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jack Ahcan | - | - | - | |
| Ivan Barbashev | - | - | - | |
| Brent Burns | - | - | - | |
| Jack Drury | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||