Rookie Darcy Kuemper will start Game 3 of the NHL playoffs against Colorado on Monday night at Xcel Energy Center as the Wild try to claw back from a 2-0 deficit in their best-of-seven-game, first-round series.

Kuemper hasn’t started since March 27 because of a concussion suffered in a practice. But he has been practicing with teammates for more than a week and relieved Ilya Bryzgalov in the second period of the Wild’s 4-2 loss to the Avalanche on Saturday in Denver. He stopped all 14 shots he faced.

Yeo called Kuemper’s recent play a “small sample size” but said it was enough to give him the edge over Bryzgalov, who played well in relief of Kuemper during the regular season but is 0-2 with a 4.85 GAA and .845 save percentage in the playoffs and surrendered a 4-2 third-period lead in a 5-4 overtime loss in Game 1.

“In practice you look at how many stops he makes, but also at how he makes them; are they bouncing off him, is he controlling the puck?” Yeo said of Kuemper. “He has looked good in practice, and we saw the same thing in the game (Saturday).

Neither Kuemper nor Bryzgalov was available for comment.

Kuemper is 12-8-4 with a 2.43 GAA and 9.15 save percentage in 25 regular-season starts.

Bryzgavlov was 7-1-3 with a 2.12 goals-against average and .911 save percentage in regular-season games after being acquired from Edmonton at the trade deadline, and backstopping a 6-1-1 finish that clinched the Wild’s second consecutive playoff berth.

Asked if he spoke to Bryzgalov about the change, Yeo said, “Not really. No.”

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