Avalanche 'have a lot of confidence' in Francouz ahead of Game 2 vs. Oilers

DENVER — Although Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar isn’t ready to disclose any details of the upper-body injury that goalie Darcy Kuemper suffered in Game 1, he did rule him out for Game 2.

That means the crease belongs to Pavel Francouz, who has appeared in two games in relief during the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs, making one previous start in Game 4 of the opening-round series with the Nashville Predators.

“Yeah, we have a lot of confidence in Frankie,” said Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar. “He’s played really well for us over the last few years. Stepping into the situation in the Nashville series, he did a great job for us and coming in the other night, he did a nice job for us. We’re completely confident that he can get the job done.”

Justus Annunen will serve as the backup for the Avalanche, who could have one change with the forward group after Andre Burakovsky did not take part in the morning skate.

Burakovsky blocked a shot in Game 1 but finished the game. If he’s unable to go, Nicolas Aube-Kuel would likely draw into the lineup on the third line with J.T. Compher and Alex Newhook.

Aube-Kubel has no points in 10 playoff games after chipping in 11 goals and 22 points in 67 games with the Avalanche after he was claimed off waivers from the Philadelphia Flyers.

For two elder statesmen — 38-year-old Oilers defenceman Duncan Keith, and Avalanche winger Andrew Cogliano, 34 — much has changed since they skated out for their first playoff games almost 2,400 regular season games ago combined.

For one, it’s a lot faster out there than it once was.

“The pace is just at another level,” said Cogliano, a first-round pick of the Oilers back in 2005. “It seems like in my first couple of playoffs (there was) a lot more grinding, a lot more chip and chase and putting pucks in and wanting to cycle teams. We played L.A. and sometimes it wasn’t really hockey at some point, you know? It was more of a physical battle.”

For Keith, it’s about his nine-year-old son Colton, who was too young to enjoy his Dad’s success when her was winning Cups with the Chicago Blackhawks. Now, Keith is on the phone with his boy after the game, talking hockey.

“My son is nine years old now, so he knows exactly what’s going on. Nice to talk to him about the games and get a feel for what he sees out there,” beamed Keith. “Just having him involved, that makes it special. It’s obviously a different perspective now, being older. You see the guys that are going through it for the first time, I think that excitement rubs off on myself, as well. It’s been a great experience.”

There was a time when Cogliano was one of the fastest players in the league. He’s still quick, but the next generation has changed the way playoff hockey is played.

“It’s a game where you’re up and down the ice,” he said. “When teams get zone time they usually don’t give it up because guys are so talented and skilled and play one-on-one so well. MacKinnon, McDavid… There are guys throughout the league who just play at another level. It forces other guys to play faster as well because you have to keep up.

“Players like that only make the league better and make playoff hockey better.”

After the two teams combined for 14 goals in the series opener, most observers are wondering if it’s going to be another high-scoring affair or if both teams will clamp down defensively.

Every series will have its ebbs-and-flows, but the feeling out stage is in the rearview mirror.

“You have a pretty good idea of strengths and weaknesses coming in. You go through a lot of video, especially when you have the time off that you have,” said Bednar. “You're picking through all kinds of games from regular season, playoffs and you have a really good idea. I think what changes is you go through all that stuff, guys absorb it. They might not catch all of it. And now that you've played and got reps against these guys, and they'll learn as they go.

“We'll learn as we go as well. You're going to keep picking through situations, so things get reiterated, there'll be some new things that pop up, but most importantly I think guys get to go out get reps against one another, and you'll see little nuances to the game within the game in certain matchups, and they'll get better at exploiting some of those areas and they'll get better at defending some of those areas.”

Here are the projected lineups for Game 2:

Draisaitl-McDavid-Hyman
Kane-RNH-Yamamoto
Foegele-McLeod-Puljujarvi
Archibald-Ryan-Kassian

Nurse-Ceci
Keith-Bouchard
Kulak-Barrie

Smith

Landeskog-MacKinnon-Nichushkin
Lehkonen-Kadri-Rantanen
Newhook-Compher-Aube-Kubel/Burakovsky
Cogliano-Helm-O'Connor

Toews-Makar
J. Johnson-Manson
Byram-E. Johnson

Francouz

Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft has swapped Evander Kane and Zach Hyman off his top line with McDavid and Leon Draisaitl throughout the playoffs. Judging by the morning skate — and we would do so at our own peril — it looks like Kane starts there in Game 2.

“I think they do have chemistry. It's been a few months now where they’ve played a lot of time together,” Woodcroft said of McDavid and Kane. “We're flexible, but I think one is the best player in the world and one is one of the best power forwards in the world.”

Kane has 13 goals in 13 playoff games, tops in the NHL this spring. He’ll play where he’s told, and has produced no matter who he is with, opening the Game 1 scoring on a breakaway set up by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

“We’ve all played together throughout the course of the season and have developed some chemistry with each player, especially in the top six,” Kane shrugged. “When we do shuffle lines and whatnot, I think we’re all comfortable going out there and knowing what we can do with each other. Sometimes a fresh look for a shift or two helps and gives you a spark.”

The debate over whether the Oilers can afford to re-sign Kane this summer will start in earnest after the Oilers season comes to an end. For now, Woodcroft is enjoying the fruits of what has been the best mid-season addition in the NHL this season.

“He's a heck of a hockey player,” the coach said of Kane. “I think he has really good on-ice habits, he goes to hard areas to have success, and he's willing to pay a physical price to do it. He makes us a bigger, harder, more skilled team with him in the lineup.”

Cogliano had only one game-winning goal in his first 100 Stanley Cup playoff games and he’s notched two in his past eight, including Game 1 against the Oilers.

Any secret to the recent success?

“Well, I don’t know. I think you score the seventh goal when it’s 7-3, you don’t anticipate that being the game winner,” said Cogliano, a former Oiler who has past playoff experience with the Dallas Stars and Anaheim Ducks. “I guess that’s how the playoffs go. there are huge momentum swings, obviously that happened last game.

“It seems like, when you get goals on the board, they’re important. They’re important later in the game. so, yeah, don’t think about it too much but obviously the win is the most important thing in that situation.”