Darcy Kuemper's debut gave a glimpse of how he changes the Avalanche

Philipp Grubauer won plenty of games last year for the Colorado Avalanche. 30 of 40 of them, in fact, as he had a Vezina Trophy-caliber season.

Yet, when the NHL season opened last night, Grubauer was in Seattle watching four pucks find their way behind him as he started and lost the first game in Kraken history.

Back in Denver, the Avs watched their former goaltender struggle in Vegas, a sight so familiar that Grubauer’s problems in the postseason series against the Golden Knights last year just might be the reason the Avs were not overly aggressive in bringing him back.

They were, however, aggressive in chasing and eventually acquiring Darcy Kuemper, the goaltender who made them sweat out a playoff series in the Edmonton bubble and who was languishing behind a porous Arizona Coyotes team shifting into full rebuild mode.

General manager Joe Sakic’s biggest and boldest move of the offseason was acquiring Kuemper. For a goaltender trade, it was very expensive with very few recent comparables to justify the cost of trading for a 31-year-old netminder with a recent habit of getting hurt a little too often.

Needless to say, a lot of faith was placed in Darcy Kuemper and in Colorado’s first game of the season, a 4-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks, it was easy to understand the organization’s decision.

After jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first ten minutes of the game despite missing Nathan MacKinnon due to COVID protocols, the Avalanche slowly ceded ground to the Blackhawks as they geared down the aggression and tried to protect what became a 4-1 lead after two periods.

The story increasingly became about Kuemper, who stopped Kirby Dach on both a clean breakaway and a two-on-one opportunity late in the second period to keep Chicago from gaining any meaningful momentum going into the game’s final frame.

As the third period wore on, Kuemper took on a larger and larger role with Chicago pressing and Colorado playing it safe.

The only shot that beat Kuemper in this phase of the game was a perfect post-in snipe from Connor Murphy to bring the game to its eventual final score of 4-2.

Obviously, the Blackhawks failed to score again the rest of the night, despite having a six-on-four advantage during a power play in the final two minutes when Gabe Landeskog recklessly smashed into Dach at center ice when Dach was in a vulnerable position.

Kuemper came up as large as his 6’5″ frame and ended his Avalanche debut with 32 saves on 34 shots.

One of the biggest, literally and figuratively, selling points of Kuemper was Colorado having a bigger goaltender for the first time in a long time. Looking at several of the saves made in the final five minutes, you see Kuemper reading the ice well but throwing a shoulder out and catching the puck, a benefit of simply being a large human being.

Kuemper is big and then played big.

It’s just one game and Kuemper’s biggest tests are still to come, but given how the last 24 hours played out with Grubauer getting handily beaten on multiple goals (granted by a very good Vegas team) and Kuemper slamming the door closed on a feisty Blackhawks team, you can’t help but think that was along the lines of what Sakic and the Avalanche brain trust envisioned this offseason.

TAKEAWAYS

• Jack Johnson first goal of the season on a clean breakaway thanks to a truly horrid change by Chicago? Now you know we’re living in a simulation.
• Jokes aside, a great story for Johnson, who might not be in the lineup whenever Devon Toews returns from injury but didn’t do anything to embarrass himself tonight beyond the awesome and shocking season-opening goal. The look on his face tells you he was just as surprised as the rest of the world. A truly fun moment.
• A game where Colorado was missing Toews and MacKinnon and Sam Girard and Cale Makar combined for zero points but Colorado still scored four goals? Enter Bowen Byram, who scored his first NHL goal (the game-winning goal as it ended up) and added an assist on Nazem Kadri’s insurance goal to put Colorado ahead 4-1 at the time. Byram was nothing short of exceptional tonight as his fancystats were completely dominant (25 CF/12 CA and a 16-3 advantage in scoring chances at 5v5) and his confidence was sky-high. He was named the First Star of the Game. My favorite shift of his actually came during the penalty-ridden second period when Byram defended Patrick Kane at his own blueline, stripped him of the puck, outskated Kane up the ice while possessing the puck, tried to make something happen offensively and when it didn’t work out, got back on defense in time to once again defend Kane and force him to give up possession. It was the exact kind of shift that earns the trust of a coaching staff and builds a young player’s confidence. He was revelatory tonight.
• On his pairing was a guy who had a pretty solid night himself in Erik Johnson. After playing just four games last year, Johnson used the preseason to smoke a few no-names and get himself really geared up for the season. It was obvious EJ was itching to go and he had a fantastic evening with an assist on Colorado’s second goal and putting his own incredible fancystats line up. While his 5v5 play kicked ass, his PK work was pretty solid, too, as Chicago generated just three scoring chances in nearly four minutes of time with EJ on the penalty kill. That is a vital role for Johnson to play this season and against a pretty lethal offensive club in Chicago, he looked very comfortable on night one. His presence was badly missed.
• Up until the boarding penalty (more on that below), I thought Gabe Landeskog was having a truly great all-around game. Even with the penalty, he clocked in with a goal, an assist, four shots on goal, three hits, and a takeaway. A stat-stuffing kind of night. To the eye, he was also leading Colorado’s MacKinnon-less top line up the ice with regularity, getting out in transition and forcing the Blackhawks to halt their love of up-tempo play to get back and defend, something they are loath to do under Jeremy Colliton. Landeskog attacked constantly throughout the night and it was not a surprise to see him finish with incredible fancystats as well. The hit, however, opened the door for Chicago to make a late-game push and was absolutely unnecessary. I get into the hit itself more below but it was the decision to even take the chance with under four minutes to play and his team nursing a two-goal lead. Why even open that door for them? Of course, that’s easy to say from the press box when I’m not the one making split-second decisions, but it seemed reckless to me.
• Now, the actual hit. Here’s a link of it in slow motion. Dach is several feet from the boards and carrying the puck, which I think are important considerations here. Dach has also been on his knees and is sliding based purely on momentum at this point. Landeskog could have simply chosen not to do it and Dach makes the exact same play of dumping the puck into Colorado’s zone. Landeskog’s hit prevented nothing and accomplished only to get himself tossed into the box and give Chicago a power play in the final four minutes of the game. Because Dach is so vulnerable in that spot and I prefer erring on the side of player safety, I don’t have any issues with them calling it boarding. Landeskog also drives through the hit, which also felt unnecessary given Dach’s vulnerability at the time of contact. I don’t think this is worthy of suspension but definitely a situation where you’re asking your captain to make a smarter choice at the end of a game. Penalty is fine with me but anything more feels over the top.
• From the other side, Chicago paid a very heavy price in both trade capital and then a massive contract extension to get Seth Jones from Columbus. Based on how Jones played tonight, not only did the Blackhawks do the Avalanche a major favor by stepping in front of them in the Jones trade queue, but the Avs just ate that guy alive without MacKinnon’s presence in the game. I don’t think it can get too much worse for Jones (15 CF/32 CA and a 23-4 deficit in scoring chances at 5v5) but there’s a much better chance he repeats those numbers with MacKinnon in the lineup. Just one game and all, but wow are the Blackhawks hoping for more from that guy.