Francouz Has Trust of Teammates

Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar says the net is Pavel Francouz's following goaltender Philipp Grubauer's injury in Game 1 of the team's Second Round series against the Dallas Stars.
Francouz entered Saturday's contest 3:06 into the second period after Grubauer went to stretch out his right leg to make a kick save before falling to the ice in pain. Colorado's starting goalie for most of the postseason needed help from the Avs' training staff to leave the playing surface and didn't return to the game.
In came Francouz, who made 18-of-20 saves in his third outing of the postseason and his first in relief--Colorado was trailing 3-1 when he entered and eventually dropped the opener in the best-of-seven set, 5-3. He will make his first start of the series on Monday night in Game 2, as Bednar announced earlier in the day that Grubauer is out indefinitely.
"The good news on that front is that Frankie has played real well for us this year and he's kind of split the season with some of the injuries that we've had," Bednar said on Saturday. "His play has dictated that he should stay in the net at times, and we're a confident team in front of him too. Hopefully Grubi can get healthy and get back in here as soon as possible. In the meantime, Frankie's going to have to get the job done."

Francouz has proven to be a valuable asset for the Avalanche this year, as he kept the team trucking along to a second-place finish in the Western Conference during the regular season after Grubauer missed time with three separate stints of injuries. The goalie from Plzen, Czech Republic, was especially strong to finish the campaign as he started 12 of the final 13 contests, posting an 8-2-2 record in that time.
The now 30-year-old led the Avs during the 2019-20 campaign in wins (21), save percentage (.923) and goals-against average (2.41), with the latter two ranking fifth and seventh in the NHL, respectively.

The right-catching keeper also posted a 9-0-1 record over 12 appearances from Nov. 7-Dec. 23 for the Avs' longest streak without a regulation loss since 2013-14. He was named to the league's Three Stars in back-to-back weeks later on in the season (Feb. 17-23 and Feb. 24-March 1) to become the first Colorado player ever to earn the honor in consecutive weeks.
"Frankie has been really good for us, and I have no doubt in my mind that he's going to be good again in the next game," said forward Mikko Rantanen. "I'm really happy for his opportunity now."
Francouz understands his role with the team as the backup to Grubauer, but he showed why he is a world-renowned goalie this year with his play when coming into games in relief or starting for long stretches like he did.
"For sure it's different if you go in in the middle of the game or if you know you're going to play," Francouz said after Game 1. "But as a backup role you have to be ready every day, and that's why I'm here."
His performance this season shouldn't have come as a surprise after he's had success in every league he's played in before reaching the NHL. In his first season in North America in 2018-19, Francouz led the American Hockey League in saves, finished second in minutes and games played, tied for third in wins and was tied for fifth in save percentage, while also being named to the league's all-star game for the Colorado Eagles, the Avs' minor-league affiliate.
Prior to his journey across the Atlantic, Francouz was named the Kontinental Hockey League's best goalie in 2017-18 after winning a similar award in 2013 and 2014 in Czech Extraliga. He also led his country to a fourth-place finish at the 2018 Winter Olympics.
"We call him up, we don't know exactly what we're going to get at the NHL level, and we relied on him heavily for multiple long stretches this year and he was outstanding," Bednar said of Francouz's first NHL campaign. "It was like having another starter when Grubi got injured and went out, and that's what we're going to need for him to be like again.
"He is an easy guy to like, our guys play hard for him. He's always been a real hard worker, holds himself to a high standard, real good evaluator of his game, and I know that he's going to go in and do everything he can to help us win hockey games."

Francouz has already had success against the Stars this postseason as he posted a 27-save shutout in the Avs' 4-0 win on Aug. 5 during the Stanley Cup Qualifiers' round robin. He became the first goalie in franchise history and only the 15th ever in the league to record a clean slate in his NHL postseason debut.
The Czech netminder earned this chance based on his play during the season, and his teammates have confidence in his ability to do the job between the pipes during Colorado's playoff run.
"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, [Grubauer and Francouz] both played fantastic this year, they've both played fantastic so far in the playoffs… 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 we're going to trust Frankie to do his thing."