Just when it looked like head coach Jared Bednar and the Colorado Avalanche were going to finish things off in the second round against the St. Louis Blues in five games, the table turned on them in Wednesday night's 5-4 overtime loss. After the game, Bednar seemingly called out goalkeeper Darcy Kuemper with regards to the goalie's performance, per Aarif Deen of Mile High Sports.
#Avs Bednar: "You can group Kuemps in with our team. we weren't good enough."
— Aarif Deen (@runwriteAarif) May 26, 2022
Kuemper doesn't really have a lot of excuses for this loss, he'll just need to bounce back in Game 6. While it's not entirely on him, the Avs' offense gave him sufficient goal support early on. Nathan MacKinnon scored two of his three goals in the first period to put the Avalanche up 2-0 before the first intermission.
The Avalanche even held a one-goal lead with less than a minute left in the third period, but Kuemper surrendered yet another goal in the waning moments of the game, this time to Robert Thomas, who sent the match to overtime. Tyler Bozak would send everyone home with a laser just over three minutes into overtime, extending the series and sending Blues fans home happy, while leaving the Avs searching for answers.
It's the most goals Kuemper has allowed in a game in this postseason, so a big rebound is expected of him by Bednar and the Avalanche. He's been solid in net for the Avs throughout the second half of the season so hopefully, he can shake off the struggles from Game 5 and help the Avalanche close out the series in Game 6 on Friday.
Follow Us
Subscribe