Avalanche defying the odds with playoff goaltending

Thanks to their overtime 4-3 Game 1 win in the Stanley Cup Final, the Colorado Avalanche are just three wins away from a championship that has seemed inevitable for this core for a couple of years now.

It has been to this point a completely dominant run that has seen them go 13-2 over their first 15 playoff games with only single loss coming in regulation. They have been an absolute machine and overwhelmed every opponent they have faced with their speed, talent, skill, and all-world defense. And they have done that with some pretty significant injuries along the way to defenseman Samuel Girard and center Nazem Kadri.

What makes their postseason dominance even more impressive is they have done it with a pretty significant Achilles Heel in their own net.

It has not mattered. Yet.

Starting goalie Darcy Kuemper has missed a handful of games this postseason to injury, and when he has played he has not exactly been great. Backup Pavel Francouz has given the Avalanche a similar level of play when he has been thrown into action. Neither one of them has had to steal a game at this point as Colorado has scored at least four goals in 11 of its 15 playoff games, and won eight of them by multiple goals. It is a completely dominant team-wide effort.

As a duo, the Avalanche goalies have managed just an .899 save percentage through the first 15 playoff games. That is way lower than what you would expect to see from a Stanley Cup Finalist. Typically goaltending is one of the driving forces behind teams that go far in the playoffs. It is the ultimate X-Factor game-changer, series-changer, and season-changer. It can mask a lot of flaws if it is great, and it can make you think you have flaws you do not actually have if it is bad. Teams