TAMPA, Fla. (KDVR) — The Colorado Avalanche are looking to bounce back from a 6-2 loss in Game 3 and the biggest question has been who will start between the pipes for Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final?
As expected, coach Jared Bednar said Darcy Kuemper is “possible” as the starter but Mikko Rantanen went on to say “Darcy’s our starter. We rally with him all the way.” Whether he meant that as Kuemper is the top goalie and Pavel Francouz as the backup and not necessarily naming who the starter is, is undetermined. But at the morning skate, Kuemper was practicing in the starter’s net, per FOX31’s Arran Andersen.
Nazem Kadri was skating with the second-line power-play unit in Wednesday morning’s skate but again, Bednar did not commit to him being in the lineup for Game 4 as the Avs are up 2-1 in the series.
The team recognized they broke down as a whole in Game 3, owned it and said they were moving on knowing what needed to be done for the next matchup.
Bednar said he believes the Lightning had the competitive advantage in Game 3 that his team had in games 1 and 2 and said there will be some desperation in their play come Game 4. The Avs plan on cleaning up their mistakes, capitalizing on scoring chances and playing a tighter game.
“I think we’ve gotta get the volume like we’ve talked about but I think the big thing early in the game is just get bodies at the net,” Rantanen said of facing Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy. “He’s a good goalie so we’ve gotta get in front of him. It’s tough for any goalie in you don’t see the puck. So that’s one thing we can for sure be better than in Game 3.”
Andre Burakovsky remains in Denver receiving treatment so he is most definitely ruled out for Game 4.
The puck drops at 6 p.m. at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida but there are two team-sponsored watch parties in Denver. The Ball Arena watch party is sold out but the watch party on the Tivoli Quad at Auraria located at 900 Auraria Parkway is free and open to everyone.