Avalanche's Bednar yet to reveal Game 5 goalie

Who will be minding the net for the Colorado Avalanche in Game 5 of the Western Conference second-round playoff series remained a mystery on Monday morning, hours before the game against the Dallas Stars. Hutchinson made three saves. Teams trailing 3-1 in playoff series are 29-284 (9.3 percent) in NHL history, NHL.com reported.

Who will be minding the net for the Colorado Avalanche in Game 5 of the Western Conference second-round playoff series remained a mystery on Monday morning, hours before the game against the Dallas Stars. Starting goalie Pavel Francouz surrendered five goals on 26 shots as the Stars took a 5-4 win on Sunday to put them up 3-1 in the best-of-seven series. Dallas could close out the series Monday night in the Edmonton bubble. Game time is 9:45 ET.

"He's got to be better, for sure," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said of Francouz after Sunday night's game. "They're making it hard on him, on the power plays especially, but we've seen Frankie be way better. I don't want to talk about tomorrow night's goaltending. I have to go back through tonight." Michael Hutchinson made his playoff debut, replacing Francouz 8:02 into the third period with the Avalanche losing 5-2. Hutchinson made three saves.

Teams trailing 3-1 in playoff series are 29-284 (9.3 percent) in NHL history, NHL.com reported. Francouz was thrust into the starting spot when Philipp Grubauer left Game 1 with an unspecified injury. On the regular season, the 30-year-old appeared in 34 games (31 starts) and posted a 21-7-4 record, 2.41 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage.

Colorado acquired Hutchinson, also 30, from the Toronto Maple Leafs in a Feb. 24 trade. Between the two teams, he was 5-9-1 with a 3.47 GAA and .888 save percentage. Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon wasn't about to let the goalies take the blame for the Game 4 loss.

"Frankie's a great goalie, and Hutch is a proven NHL goalie as well," he said, per NHL.com. "So it's not on them. It's on us to give them easy saves, easy looks. We're letting their big bodies stand in front of the net and tip pucks unharmed right now. We can win more battles, be more mean in our crease, help those guys out."