DENVER – Darcy Kuemper and Pavel Francouz are available, healthy and ready to play in the Colorado Avalanche against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first game of the Stanley Cup final at the Ball Arena in Denver on Wednesday, although it is not known which starting goalkeeper.
“Our guys are also comfortable with our goalkeeper here,” Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic said on Tuesday. “Both goalkeepers can play. Darcy is 100 percent healthy now. He had a tough time with his health for a round, but he is ready to start.
“We’re definitely confident in both goalkeepers. They both won six games in the playoffs. Our guys are excited.”
Kuemper has started 10 games in the Stanley Cup playoffs, 6-2 with an average of 2.65 goals against and a .897 save percentage. Francouz has started six games, each winning, with a GAA of 2.86 and a savings rate of 0.906.
Kuemper has not played since suffering an upper body injury in the second period of Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals against the Edmonton Oilers on May 31st. Francouz stepped in and started the remaining three games of the Oilers’ four-game sweep. Kuemper was able to back up Francouz in Game 4.
“It was definitely disappointing,” Kuemper said of the injury. “I wanted to be out there. But at the same time, you have to be in a position where you can help the team, and healthy enough where you can. It was good that I was able to get back quickly. And now I’m excited about move on here “.
Colorado coach Jared Bednar called it a “difficult decision” earlier this week when asked which goalkeeper would start Game 1 (8 pm ET; ESPN +, ABC, CBC, SN, TVAS) .
Kuemper said goalkeepers usually know by text message the night before the game who starts, and everyone said Tuesday morning that they still didn’t know who would be online for the first game.
“It was very hard to see, but it made it a lot easier with the success we had,” Kuemper said. “‘Frankie’ came in and played amazing, and we were obviously able to win four in a row (against the Oilers). That made it a little easier to be on the sidelines, but I still wanted to be there.”
During the regular season, Kuemper was 37-12-4 in 57 starts, with a GAA of 2.54 and a savings rate of 0.921; Francouz was 15-5-1 in 18 starts (21 games), with a 2.55 GAA and a .916 savings percentage.
When asked if he expected to return from injury due to being the No. 1 goalkeeper, Kuemper said, “I didn’t care about that. I just cared about training hard and being ready to play, whether I was playing or not. I’m getting ready to leave. “
Francouz was not expected to be in this situation this postseason, but said he is ready when asked.
“You never know what’s going to happen basically in life and also in sports,” Francouz said. “Coming to the playoffs, I didn’t think so [I was] he would play so much, but that’s how it went so fast. It’s been great so far and I hope we still have the best in front of us. “
The Lightning enters the Final without controversy on the net. Andrei Vasilevskiy, who won the Vezina Trophy in 2018-19 as the NHL’s top goalkeeper, has played every minute of his 65 games in the last three seasons, including consecutive Cup titles.
“You really can’t worry about who’s on the other end,” Kuemper said. “You just have to go out and play your game, make sure you’re playing well. He’s obviously been very successful and a guy that everyone is trying to compete with. So it’s a fun challenge.”