The Colorado Avalanche have been hit with the injury bug as it was announced that goaltender Philipp Grubauer and defensemen Erik Johnson will be out indefinitely. Forward Matt Calvert is also day-to-day, and will be not be in Monday’s lineup.
Massive Losses For Colorado
It doesn’t come as much as surprise that Grubauer is going to miss some time after he left early in the second period on Saturday night during game one in round two. The loss of Phillip Grubauer is going to be massive for Colorado. He’s put up a 5-1 with a 1.87 goals against average and .922 save percentage. He’s also recorded one shutout.
Pavel Francouz, who took over for Grubauer on Saturday, will get the start in net on Monday night. Francouz will be making his third career playoff start and has posted a 1.59 goals against average. He also added a .941 save percentage during those three games. Michael Hutchinson will serve as the backup on Monday and Hunter Miska is currently en route to Edmonton.
With Erik Johnson now out of the lineup, Jared Bednar has opted to go with Kevin Connauton to take Johnson’s place in the starting formation. Johnson left the game on Saturday following a collision with Dallas winger Blake Comeau. The Avalanche had a few options, but it makes sense to go with a guy like Connauton who’s got the most experience among defensemen available. This will be Connauton’s first appearance of the Stanley Cup playoffs in the NHL bubble.