Kuemper bounces back, comes up big for Avalanche in Game 4 win

TAMPA -- Before Darcy Kuemper found out on Tuesday that he would start Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final for the Colorado Avalanche, coach Jared Bednar had a simple question.

"Our team believes in him, I believe in him, I wanted to make sure that he believed in himself," Bednar said. "Would he be able to go and bounce back and do the job?"
Kuemper definitely did the job.
Two days after being pulled in Game 3, when he allowed five goals on 22 shots in a 6-2 loss, Kuemper responded by making 37 saves in a
3-2 overtime win
against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on Wednesday.
Colorado leads the best-of-7 series 3-1. Game 5 will be in Denver on Friday (8 p.m. ET; ABC, ESPN+, CBC, SN, TVAS).
"Sort of no doubt I was going back in there, he just wanted me to go out there, be loose and play my game. That's what I tried to do," Kuemper said of his talk with Bednar. "I know the guys had my back and yeah, I just wanted to go out and play like I can, and we were able to get one tonight."
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If there was any doubt Kuemper would rebound, a lot of it went away in the first period. Although Lightning forward Anthony Cirelli scored 36 seconds into the game on the rebound of a shot that caused Kuemper to lose his mask, he saved the final 13 shots of the period to keep it a one-goal game.
Tampa Bay outshot Colorado 17-4 in the first.
"I'm fired up for him, you know?" Avalanche forward Nico Sturm said. "There's a lot of outside noise, especially at this time of the year, because there's obviously only two teams playing. There's a lot of stuff out there, but you saw today, in the first he made a couple of huge saves for us. Certainly he kept this game closer than what it could've been and yeah, great bounce back game by him."

Kuemper got in on the scoring as well.
In overtime, with the Lightning trying to get a line change after dumping the puck down the ice, Kuemper came out of his crease and passed up to Artturi Lehkonen, who then fed Nazem Kadri for the winning goal at 12:02.
"Yeah, we'd been in their zone for quite some time, and everyone looked exhausted on their end of it, so I just tried to get it up as quick as I could," Kuemper said. "Hopefully we could get something off the rush, and 'Lehk' got the puck to 'Naz,' and obviously he made the great play to end the game there."
Goaltenders have to have short memories, especially following a tough game. Kuemper was able to turn the page fast, and now he and the Avalanche are on the cusp of winning the Stanley Cup for the first time since 2001.
"He was great," Colorado forward Nathan MacKinnon said. "I thought in Game 3 he had some bad luck with some of the goals that went in, and we hung him out to dry for a few as well. That's the 'Kuemps' we know. No doubt going into this game he was going to be great, and we expect the same next game."