The Colorado Avalanche have announced that starting goalie Philipp Grubauer is day-to-day with a lower body injury. So, we’ll see a new goalie tandem.
The Colorado Avalanche can’t catch a break when it comes to injuries these last couple weeks. The latest in a string of injuries is Philipp Grubauer. He’s expected to be out for the team’s next two road games.
According to Jared Bednar, Grubauer tweaked an injury that had been nagging him in Dallas. At one point, the Stars rushed the net, and a Dallas player collided with Grubauer. He looked a little shaken for a few moments, but he stayed in the game.
So, in a way, this news doesn’t surprise me. In fact, the Avalanche’s Twitter foreshadowed the news by tweeting that the team had called goalie Adam Werner up from the Colorado Eagles.
We have recalled a goaltender from the Colorado Eagles.#GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/XeFaYJo6sP
— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) November 7, 2019
To be honest, as soon as I saw that news I thought about the collision in the Dallas game and figured Grubauer was out.
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It’s a tough blow for a team already reeling from injury. Both their star wingers, Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog, are out with lower-body injuries. Colin Wilson is also injured. Now our starting goalie.
Luckily, Grubauer is expected to go on the long road trip that starts next Tuesday in Winnipeg. So hopefully, the Avs will only be without their starting goalie for the two home games coming up starting tonight.
Meanwhile, we’ll be seeing Pavel Francouz in net. Like the rest of the team, Francouz started out strong but looked a little wobbly here and there in his last couple starts. He’s started four times this season going 2-2-0 with a .919 save percentage and 2.73 goals against average.
His last start was November 2 in Arizona, a loss. He let in three goals on 28 shots. He started his season against Arizona on October 12, a win. He stopped 34 of 36 shots that night.
We’re hoping for that Francouz the next couple games.
His backup will be Adam Werner, who’s in his rookie season with the Colorado Eagles. In nine games he’s recorded a .908 save percentage and 2.88 goals against average. I can’t imagine he’ll see any ice time.
Meanwhile, the Colorado Avalanche also made another call-up, though this one was less surprising. The Avs sent forward Jayson Megna back to the Eagles and brought TJ Tynan in his place. Megna was barely getting five minutes a night, so this switch isn’t surprising.
The 27-year-old Tynan was one of Colorado’s free agency signings over the summer. He hasn’t appeared in an NHL game since March of 2017 when he played three games for the Columbus Blue Jackets.
That’s the extent of his NHL experience, but that will apparently change tonight. I imagine he’ll plug into the line with Valeri Nichushkin and Vladislav Kamenev.
This current stretch is a rough patch for the Colorado Avalanche. However, as I noted in a previous post, their defensive corps is intact. If they can just smother their opponents offense for the next couple games, I’m confident Francouz can give them a chance to win each night. Then all will remain is for Colorado to find a way to score some goals.