Mike Chambers of the Denver Post reports that Colorado Avalanche goaltender Darcy Kuemper has swelling around his eye and could miss Game 4 against the Nashville Predators tonight.
Avalanche goalie Darcy Kuemper escapes serious eye injury. But swelling could keep him out of Game 4 at Nashville https://t.co/J4uUEvl4Uw
— The Denver Post (@denverpost) May 9, 2022
Kuemper took a stick to the face from Preds’ forward Ryan Johansen in Game 3. Johansen’s stick was able to slip through Kuemper’s mask, but the Avs’ goalie avoided serious injury to his eye. Pavel Francouz took over after Kuemper left the game and backstopped the Avs to a 7-3 win.
Kuemper’s eye was swollen shut when he went to the dressing room. Avs’ head coach Jared Bednar said, “I’ve never seen it before; when you see a player going out holding their eye, you’re always worried about it regardless of what team they’re on. So luckily, he’s doing good, and he doesn’t have any complications except for the swelling.â€
Kuemper has a .934 SV% and a 1.63 GAA through three playoff games this postseason.
Colorado is up 3-0 in the best-of-seven series against the Predators and could close it out tonight. The big lead in the set could give the Avs the luxury of giving their number one goalie some extra time to get back to 100 percent.
Over at FanDuel Sportsbook, the Avalanche are -255 on the moneyline against Nashville for Game 4.
