Game one of the western conference finals between the Colorado Avalanche and the Edmonton Oilers is in the books.
A game that ended 8-6 leaves some real questions about the capability of goaltending in this series especially after both starting goalies were pulled.
It appears Darcy Kuemper left the game via an injury but head coach Jared Bednar had nothing to tell the media about the injury afterward. The direct quote via ESPN reporting was “We’ll see” Link to ESPN story here.
If Kuemper doesn’t return the ownness will fall on Pavel Francouz, who despite giving up three goals last night played relatively well in a backup stint.
For as many goals as there were in game one, it was also incredibly physical. The Oilers put up 46 hits while the Avalanche bruised 34 times. The grinding assault of the series to come will be interesting to watch as we move deeper into it.
Sure speed kills, but so does the body and there are lots of bodies being thrown around in this series.
Both power plays performed well in game one. Each going 1/2 in the game. Though the scoring was fast paced, the discipline of the two teams really did show out. Both had 6 giveaways.
A series like this that has this much continual scoring is due to peter out at some point. However, for now it looks like both teams are full steam ahead.
Carried by both scoring from stars and role players, game two will be played Thursday night in Denver at 6 pm.