Francouz stays relaxed, stands tall for Avalanche in Game 2
Goalie starts for injured Kuemper, helps shut out McDavid, Oilers to extend lead in Western Final
"FRANK-IE!" they boomed. "FRANK-IE!"
Francouz returned the love with about 12 seconds to go, clapping his glove and blocker together in applause.
The Colorado Avalanche backup goalie had to play against Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and the Edmonton Oilers in Game 2 of the Western Conference Final at Ball Arena on Thursday with starter Darcy Kuemper out due to an upper-body injury.
He came up with a 24-save shutout, and his teammates gave perhaps their most impressive performance of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in a 4-0 win. The Avalanche lead the best-of-7 series 2-0.
"Some things are just tough to describe," Francouz said. "I mean, it was a special night for sure. But I think it was an overall team effort tonight, so it was better when they were shouting, 'Go, Avs, go!' or 'Let's go, Avs!'"
McDavid leads the Stanley Cup Playoffs with 29 points (eight goals, 21 assists). Draisaitl is right behind with 28 points (seven goals, 21 assists). Each had a nine-game point streak snapped. The last time McDavid and Draisaitl failed to record a point was in Game 4 of the first round, a 4-0 loss to the Los Angeles Kings.
The Avalanche smothered them, and when Francouz was tested, he was perfect.
"He was calm, cool and collected the whole night," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "I felt like he was really square to the shooter, not overactive, just kind of sitting in the right spot all night and made most of the saves look easy."
Francouz took over for Kuemper in the second period of Game 1 and allowed three goals on 21 shots. The Avalanche won 8-6 in one of the highest-scoring playoff games in NHL history.
He said he figured he would start Game 2 and found out officially Wednesday afternoon. It was only his 10th appearance and seventh start in the playoffs in his NHL career. He appeared in two games, and started Game 4, in the first round against the Nashville Predators.
"I mean, for sure, you're a little nervous, and you have it in the back of your mind that it's a really important game," Francouz said. "But what helped me was the way our team played tonight since the first seconds. I know they'll help me a lot. That made me more calm, and I could just focus on my play."
Francouz almost made a major mistake in the first period, when he came out of his net to play the puck and fired it up the boards. Oilers defenseman Cody Ceci intercepted it and took a shot from the neutral zone that Francouz had to stop in the right face-off circle.
But Francouz settled down. Late in the first period, he poked the puck off Draisaitl's stick in close. Early in the second, he came out of his net to the left to cut down the angle on Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard.
Late in the second period, with Colorado leading 3-0, came a key play when Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse had a 2-on-1 rush with McDavid. Avalanche defenseman Jack Johnson covered McDavid, trusting Francouz to handle Nurse. Francouz diffused the scoring chance with a poke check.
"I think it's a big moment," Bednar said. "Obviously he knows the magnitude of it, coming into a playoffs series like this. Like I've said before, No. 1, he's worked extremely hard to stay sharp. Always does. Always has come in and done a nice job after having a bunch of time off, which is not easy to do."
RELATED: [Complete Avalanche vs. Oilers series coverage]
After Colorado took a 7-3 lead in Game 1, Edmonton cut it to 7-6. The Avalanche didn't make the same mistake again on Thursday. They outshot the Oilers in the third period 14-5 and padded their lead with a power-play goal.
"We didn't stop playing this time in the third," Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen said. "We kept going and kept forechecking and staying on the pucks in the o-zone. I think that was the big difference."
Avalanche forward Nazem Kadri called it incredible.
"Our detail tonight and our focus was just exactly what we wanted to do," Kadri said. "We wanted to turn it up a notch. We understood that last game probably wasn't sustainable for the whole series.
"Obviously, they're a high-octane team. I think we did a great job defensively. 'Frankie' made some big saves. So, all that put together results in a shutout, so very proud of the guys for that."
It is unclear who will start for the Avalanche in Game 3 at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; TNT, CBC, SN, TVAS). Bednar called Kuemper day to day and declined to provide more details.
But Francouz has shown what he can do, and the Avalanche have shown that if they play that way, it doesn't matter which goalie is in net.
The fans chanted something else late in Game 2 while singing along to song after song, as if this were a karaoke night instead of a hockey night.
"WE WANT THE CUP!" they boomed. "WE WANT THE CUP!"
Six wins to go.
