6:39 pm: From Adrian Dater of the Denver Post, Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar said postgame that Kuemper did in fact suffer an eye injury (link). The good news, however, is Bednar noted that Kuemper could actually play in Game Four for Colorado on Monday.
6:06 pm: The Colorado Avalanche announced that goaltender Darcy Kuemper left today’s game and would not return (link). It was late in the first period when Nashville Predators forward Ryan Johansen appeared to accidentally get his stick blade caught in Kuemper’s mask, forcing him to leave the game. He was replaced by Pavel Francouz and later confirmed not to be returning.
Losing Kuemper is nothing short of a major concern for the Avalanche, who acquired him this offseason from the Arizona Coyotes in order to bolster themselves in net ahead of another run at the Stanley Cup. Of course, it’s not yet clear what exactly the nature of Kuemper’s injury is or whether or not he will have to miss any additional time, however an injury near the eye, especially of a goaltender, is concerning.
Kuemper has had some ups and downs for Colorado this season, but ultimately posted a strong .921 save-percentage and 2.54 goals-against average in 57 games. Should Colorado have to go forward with Francouz, they would still be in good hands. The Czech netminder posted nearly identical numbers to Kuemper this season in 21 games, recording a .916 save-percentage and 2.55 goals-against average. Colorado’s situation is one their opponent can empathize with; Nashville lost their starting goaltender, Juuse Saros, ahead of the series, having to rely on a tandem of David Rittich and Connor Ingram.
I feel like goal-tending is immensely valuable and fragile at the same time.
Goalie goes out, it is onto a backup who also might go out and then it is onto the zambonie driver.
This is one of the reasons I’ve never like high price or long term deals for goalies. It’s all just too fragile.
Would almost like to see teams permitted 3 goalies in this day and age and some form of subsidy or incentive to get more young people playing the position. Their equipment certainly costs more. I cannot imagine being the person blamed for goals allowed and getting rubber in the face is fun when young.
My 2 cents having watched enough playoff dreams live and die on a single position. Forwards and defense have enough numbers to cover losses in most cases.
The first thing that crossed my mind when I saw that was how Bernie Parent’s career was ended by getting a stick go thru his mask. Thankfully it looks like Kuemper will have a better fate than that.
But how exactly did all 4 on ice officials miss that?