A dark horse has emerged to help save the Avalanche season

“You think darkness is your ally? You merely adopted the dark. I was born in it, molded by it.”

While Pavel Francouz may not be able to take Bane in a fist fight, it’s a pretty safe bet he could stop him on a breakaway.

When Francouz signed with Colorado in the spring after an exceptional season in the KHL that saw him named the league’s best goaltender, he was likely envisioning a very different start to his NHL career. Instead of getting a start and locking down the opposition, Francouz has entered two games in which the Avalanche were trailing 4-1 and head coach Jared Bednar had seen enough futility from Philipp Grubauer.

Enter Francouz, the light in a time of darkness as the Avalanche have lost six straight games and watched their once formidable lead in the standings on the Dallas Stars vanish into the same darkness that now enshrouds the organization. He’s made two appearances and watched his team comeback both times but was saddled with two hard-luck losses as he gave up flukey goals in each contest.

“Of course it is not easy to go out there with your team losing but that’s my job as a backup goalie,” Francouz said. “I have to be ready every moment. I try to be my best. Unfortunately, we couldn’t complete the comeback.”

The only goal that slipped past him last night in Colorado’s 5-4 loss to the San Jose Sharks was one he couldn’t have played much better. The Sharks broke in on a three on one and Joe Pavelski flubbed his shot and the puck seemingly worked its way out of danger behind the net. Instead, it bounced off the back wall and right on to the stick of Sharks forward Lukad Radil, who then flubbed his shot but was fortunate that it bounced off a sliding Francouz and into the net for what ended up being the game-winning goal but at the time made it 5-2.

“In that moment I tried to challenge Pavelski on the shot,” Francouz explained. “I tried to go back to the post as fast as possible but couldn’t make it.”

Overall, Francouz has stopped 33 of 35 shots on goal, a .943 save percentage that dwarfs that of his more established competition. The sample size is miniscule, of course, but given Colorado’s porous goaltending over the last month, the newly-minted AHL All-Star has given a reason to believe.

With incumbent start Semyon Varlamov suffering from his typical midseason lower-body injury, Francouz was called upon to sit on the bench and watch Grubauer do the heavy lifting but the man Colorado acquired from Washington to be their goaltender of the future stumbled once again when given the chance to run with the job.

The 28-year-old Francouz hasn’t been afraid of the moment or backed down from difficult circumstances in either of his appearances. Given Varlamov’s lengthy injury history, the team brought him in last offseason with the thought of potentially making him the backup goaltender behind Grubauer in seasons to come. With both of the men ahead of him falling apart, Francouz may end up being the guy to help drag this team out of its current funk.

His happy-go-lucky attitude is also something that could definitely help his Avalanche teammates as they get tighter with every loss. The levity he brings to the locker room might be a welcome distraction from their current issues as while he’s trying to prove himself, he also understands the moment he’s in.

“I’m happy for every experience,” Francouz told BSN Denver. “It’s a dream come true to be part of the NHL and be with this group of guys. It’s awesome, it’s fun to watch them play. I’m just happy to be here.”

Despite his strong start, Francouz is keeping things in perspective. He knows his team is battling for playoff positioning and every two points that slip away are points the team doesn’t get a chance to get back.

“It’s hard to tell [how he played] because we lost again,” he said. “I would love to celebrate with the guys after the game. It just didn’t happen. The guys played awesome the second half of the game and we were just unable to finish the comeback.”

With the Avalanche taking the day off today, they return to the ice tomorrow night against the New York Rangers. When asked if he would consider giving the start to Francouz, Bednar didn’t even have to hear the end of the question before emphatically answering, “Yup.”

Between Varlamov and Grubauer, the team hasn’t gotten nearly the level of quality goaltending on a consistent basis it was expecting. They’ve lost six games in a row and their third place standing in the Central Division. It’s time for a change and it’s clear to everyone on the outside that Francouz deserves an opportunity to be the change this team needs right now.

Can Pavel Francouz be the hero the Avalanche need right now?