Jared Bednar provides an early update on Darcy Kuemper.

The Colorado Avalanche may have dodged a bullet. Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar has just provided an update on Darcy Kuemper, the team's starting goaltender, and it sounds like he may have avoided the worst of it. 

On Saturday, Kuemper was injured when he took a stick to the face courtesy of Nashville Predators forward Ryan Johansson in what appeared to be a freak accident as Johansson battled Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon in front of the net. The blow would knock Kuemper out of the game and his body language as he left the ice suggested that this injury could have been of a more serious nature.

Bednar however says he is not willing to rule out Kuemper for Game 4, despite admitting that his veteran goaltender is dealing with some swelling to his face and will now have to be evaluated moving forward.

"We'll get him further evaluated," said Bednar on Saturday. "He's got some swelling there."

At this time of year it has to be said that this could be pure gamesmanship on the part of Bednar, but it is the only update that the Avalanche have put forward on Kuemper thus far.

I mentioned Kuemper's body language following the stick to the face and it was probably the most concerning sign as Kuemper attempted to leave the ice as a result of the injury. The Avalanche goaltender was initially clutching at his eye as he attempted to skate off, but appeared to become disoriented and collapsed to the ice in front of a National Hockey League official. Kuemper was eventually able to recover, get back to his feet, and walk back into the Avalanche locker room under his own power, but this initially looked like a bad sign for Kuemper.

No doubt we will have to wait until we get closer to Game 4 to get answers from Bednar regarding the official status of his goaltender.