Darcy Kuemper shows again why he's the difference-maker the Avalanche need

You already know the platitudes I’m going to throw at you after tonight’s gutsy 2-1 win in the shootout by the Avalanche over the Edmonton Oilers.

On the second night of a back-to-back in which they flew in from Winnipeg following their overtime tilt last night to play a rested team in their own barn who needs the points in their chase for home ice in the playoffs?

Entering the third period 0-0 was a victory given how poorly the Avalanche had played, but they’d been here before. They’ve been in enough of these tight third-period games this season to be comfortable in this situation.

In the neverending cycle of comparing this year’s team to last year’s, one of the main differences is that last year’s chewed up the overmatched competition so consistently that they rarely found themselves in tight games in the third period. This year, not quite the same situation.

Blowouts might be fun, but hard-fought wins take a little something extra, especially when you’re on the wrong side of the advantages walking into the game. It’s heart, leadership, character, drive, pride, a team playing for each other, a resolve that dictates they refuse to back down from any situation.

No game is ever lost until the final horn sounds. All of the intangible stuff we love to talk about, the unquantifiable virtues of the sport that get sports fans waxing poetic. All of that stuff is what got the Avalanche to overtime in this game after erasing a one-goal deficit in the third period.

What got them across the finish line is much simpler.

His name is Darcy Kuemper.

You all know about Kuemper. The late-bloomer whose career seemed left for dead as recently as five years ago. The jumbo-sized netminder who helped beat the Avalanche in the 2013-14 playoffs in seven games when he was just 23. The guy who Colorado rolled the dice on last summer in the blockbuster trade that brought him to Denver just hours after Vezina finalist Philipp Grubauer shocked everyone and signed a huge long-term deal with the Seattle Kraken.

His slow start in Colorado now an ancient memory, Kuemper has simply been one of the NHL’s best goaltenders going back to the start of December. I’ve written about him before. Everyone paying attention has, to be honest.

Colorado isn’t sitting atop the NHL’s standings with just ten games remaining because they’ve outscored their problems. They just gave up 50 shots on goal to the Edmonton Oilers, a team most of us are still deciding if they’re even any good, despite having their best defense healthy for one of the first times this season.

No doubt it will take that unit more than a game or two to get fully up to speed and the pairings all sorted out, but this game was a perfect reason why the Avalanche pushed their chips to the middle of the table.

49 saves later, which general manager do you think is sleeping soundly tonight? Joe Sakic, the man who went all-in on Kuemper last summer, or Ken Holland, who finished second in the race for Kuemper’s services but balked at a certain asking price that Colorado was ultimately willing to pay?

While Mikko Koskinen was valiant tonight in stopping 33 of 34 saves, he was blessed with getting beaten three times in the first period and all three pucks finding the post behind him. When push came to shove in the shootout, Kuemper didn’t budge and Koskinen did.

While 3v3 and shootouts are mere functions of the entertainment portion of the regular season grind and aren’t relevant to the upcoming postseason, Kuemper reminded everyone just how thin the margin between victory and defeat can be. It’s odd Holland, who has to build literal superteams to get by with Chris Osgood during his heyday in Detroit, has to continually be reminded of this lesson, but we all have our blind spots in life, I suppose.

The Avalanche will gladly take Kuemper into battle, who has been nothing short of exceptional since January 1. Normally I think cherry-picking stats that are convenient for an argument can be cheap, but we’re talking 31 starts here. This isn’t really a small sample size for goaltenders in a single season.

In those 31 starts, Kuemper has gone 21-4-3 with a 2.12 goals-against-average and five shutouts behind an incredible .937 save percentage. For reference, Igor Shesterkin is very likely to win the Vezina this year for being the primary reason the New York Rangers are even competitive and his numbers in that same time frame look strikingly similar: .937 save percentage and 1.98 goals-against-average while compiling a 20-6-2 record in 28 starts.

Last year, it was easy to point to Colorado’s dominance as a team and explain Grubauer’s excellent numbers. He was rewarded as a Vezina finalist because he did a good job behind a great team in a weak division. There are still three weeks left this season, but Kuemper has put the kind of season together that says he should be rewarded for an excellent job behind a good team that he elevated far above its conference peers.

I don’t know if you noticed, but the Avs are on a six-game winning streak. This is their fifth winning streak of at least five games this season. They just capped off a difficult road trip with a perfect 3-0 record, even though they had to win in overtime and a shootout to get the job done. They tied the franchise record for wins in a season with their 52nd win tonight. It was Game 72.

None of this happens without Kuemper (and Pavel Francouz, of course, but Kuemper is very clearly the guy in Colorado). As Colorado’s offense has gone through endless injuries, it has lost some of the punch that saw them reminding people of the ’95-96 Pittsburgh Penguins offensive juggernaut.

Using that same date range (January 1 to now), Colorado is just seventh in goals-per-game (3.49) but is first in goals-against-per-game (2.36). You could argue the defense tightened up, but it really didn’t. Colorado is just 21st in shots against with 33.0 given up per game.

Kuemper’s workload has been legit as those 31 starts are fifth-most in that timeframe.

All of this to say that tonight wasn’t a seminal moment. It wasn’t a passing of the torch or crowning achievement. It was Darcy Kuemper being Darcy Kuemper.

Once he figured out who he was in Colorado, it’s been hell on everyone else trying to beat him.

TAKEAWAYS

• I don’t have a ton of thoughts from this one that I don’t express over in the grades piece, but some love here for Colorado’s unbelievable work on the PK in overtime. I thought the slashing call on MacKinnon was weak because McDavid was whipping his stick around with one hand, something he frequently does in an attempt to draw the exact call he got tonight, but there also wasn’t much need for MacKinnon to do it. No real bones there, but the penalty kill was awesome and Darren Helm came up with some great stickwork to help survive the storm.
• Kuemper refusing to give up goals “ruined” my curiosity of the night because I was really interested to see who Jared Bednar would’ve picked as his third shooter. In the past, he’s rolled out MacKinnon/Rantanen/Landeskog, and when needed Nazem Kadri has been the next guy up. I was curious if we were going to see Andre Burakovsky or Cale Makar, but ended up with neither because MacKinnon’s goal sufficed after Kuemper stopped all three shots, including the ballsy attempt from Leon Draisaitl.
• That kind of confidence from Draisaitl seems to be the exact double-edged sword that gets the Edmonton media all over him. If it works, he’s a superstar. If it doesn’t, it’s the easiest thing to second-guess, especially when the Oilers badly needed the extra point.
• I mentioned above Koskinen getting a little lucky but Kuemper also had his fair share of good fortune tonight. Jesse Puljujarvi got two perfect passes from Connor McDavid on two-on-ones to bang home and Puljujarvi shot both pucks back into Kuemper’s body as Kuemper was sliding across. Great work by Kuemper to give himself a chance, but those both should have been goals. Keep an eye on Puljujarvi as the next guy Edmonton’s media tries to run out of town. He’s a good player who is going to help whichever team is smart enough to convince the Oilers to part with him (if Holland is willing).
• The Avs moved to 7-1-1 in SEGABABAs this year and are now 18-2-1 against the Pacific Division. They also lead the NHL in road wins and points. Fun with numbers!