Colorado Remains Poised Despite Injuries

The Colorado Avalanche got a taste of an injury bug to start the second round of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs, and although the Avs don't know how long they will be without some of their teammates, the squad remains confident moving forward.

The Avalanche opened Round 2 against the Dallas Stars on Saturday and finished its 5-3 loss in Game 1 without three of its regular players: forward Matt Calvert, defenseman Erik Johnson and goaltender Philipp Grubauer.

Calvert did not dress for Saturday's contest while Grubauer left the game early in the second period after suffering an injury while stretching to make a kick save. Johnson blocked a shot just before getting tangled up with a Dallas player in front of the Colorado net midway through the first period. He left the contest and returned to play a few shifts in the second, but he did not skate in the third frame, although he did sit on the bench for the stanza.

"Calvert is day-to-day, probably won't know on him until tomorrow. Grubauer is going to be out, I don't know for how long," head coach Jared Bednar said on Sunday. "These guys are getting evaluated at some point today so I may have more information tomorrow, I'm not certain that I will. But Grubauer won't be available for tomorrow, and then I'm not expecting Erik Johnson either, but we'll see how this afternoon goes."

With Grubauer out, Czech goaltender Pavel Francouz will be in the net, and it isn't the first time that Francouz has put on the starter hat for the Avs this season. Grubauer missed 20 games throughout the year due to injury, including the final 13 games of the campaign. After Grubauer got hurt in the Stadium Series game on Feb. 15, Francouz started 12 of the remaining 13 contests for the squad and posted a league-best eight wins. He had an 8-2-2 mark, 2.37 goals-against average,.919 save percentage and a shutout in that stretch.

Overall in his first NHL season, Francouz went 21-7-4 with a 2.41 goals-against average and .923 save percentage. His save percentage was tied for fifth in the league and ranked seventh in goals-against average, becoming the first Avalanche netminder to finish among the league's top 10 in both categories since David Aebischer in 2003-04.

Francouz is 1-1 this postseason, recording a 27-save shutout in Colorado's 4-0 win over the Stars in round-robin action on Aug. 5.

"I think we are in a unique situation where we have a ton of trust in both of our goaltenders," said veteran defenseman Ian Cole. "You know, they both played fantastic this year, they've both played fantastic so far in the playoffs… So, we feel comfortable with either of them. What happened to Grubi is obviously very unfortunate and obviously that breaks our hearts that he's going to have to come back from this, that he's missing a couple games or whatever. But, you know, we'll ride with Frankie, I mean Frankie is a fantastic goaltender.

"He's proved himself. He's experienced, and he's come in and played great for us. So, nothing really changes for us. We're going to try to play the same way, hopefully better than the last game. And then, you know, we're going to trust Frankie to do his thing. And you got to rely on guys to do the job, and we're certainly going to rely on Frankie to do that."

Bednar did add that the team is arranging for goaltender Hunter Miska to join the Avs in the Western Conference hub city, but logistics are still being figured out regarding his travel to Canada.

These are the first significant injuries that Colorado has faced since arriving in Edmonton, but the team has battled through different strings of ailments all year. The Avs posted the NHL's third-best record despite losing 223 man-games due to injury. That list included lengthy injuries to key players such as Mikko Rantanen (28 games missed), Cale Makar (13), Nazem Kadri (19), Gabriel Landeskog (16), Grubauer (20), Andre Burakovsky (12), Johnson (11) and Calvert (19).

"It happens, and it's just a matter of how we respond as a group," Landeskog said of the current injuries after Saturday's game. "To be honest, it sucks seeing guys go down, and everybody that's in that lineup is there for a reason. When guys go down there's a hole to fill, but it's a next-man-up mentality and it's no bigger deal than that. It's something we've dealt with it in the past, and we are going to just keep moving forward. Hopefully those guys can get back as soon as possible and get healthy, but we know we're a good enough team to win with a couple of guys out of the lineup, no doubt."

In regards to who might play on defense if Johnson is unable to, Bednar noted that multiple options are being explored.

Among the possibilities are veteran rear guards Mark Barberio and Kevin Connauton, both of whom have played more than 250 NHL games. Other options include Avs prospects Conor Timmins and Bowen Byram, young D-men that have been drafted in recent years by Colorado and the team sees a lot of potential in.

"We'll discuss all of our options as a coaching staff and management," said Bednar. "Kind of take a look at how we would use each guy in different scenarios and who we would play them against and try to come up with the best solution to win tomorrow night's game and then we'll reevaluate and go from there. All options are certainly on the table, we've been discussing some this morning. We'll continue to go through the video and make a decision for tomorrow night."

Monday's Game 2 is scheduled for 7:45 p.m. MT and will be broadcasted in the United States on NBCSN and on Sportsnet and TVA Sports in Canada.

OPTIONAL PRACTICE SUNDAY

The Avalanche held an optional practice at the community rink at Rogers Place on Sunday, and players could get on the ice to skate or participate in an off-ice workout depending on what they believe will best prepare them for Game 2 on Monday.

"A lot of guys went over to the rink today, it as an optional skate so some guys went on the ice and some guys did a little work in the gym or whatnot," said forward Tyson Jost. "It's a reset day today, and we know that we have a big one ahead of us tomorrow."

In addition to the optional practice, Bednar noted that all of the coaches were at Rogers Place and that his staff met with several players. Bednar also said that the team will convene as a group to go over things prior to Monday's morning skate to prepare to even the best-of-seven set.

"I think guys are well aware that we didn't play well enough as individuals and as a team. We have had some groups together this morning showing video, and we will have a team meeting tomorrow prior to our skate and we will address some of the things structurally and tactically that we think we can do and that we need to improve on as a team," said Bednar. "It starts though with some of our individuals getting themselves ready to play, and I can say that we brought on a lot of the trouble that we got into last night on our own and it's something that is certainly curable and I expect our team to be much better tomorrow. It doesn't guarantee a victory, but it certainly is going to give ourselves a better chance to win than we did last night."