The Avalanche on Friday announced that goalie Pavel Francouz has signed a two-year contract extension through the 2021-22 season.

The contract is worth $4 million for an average annual value of $2 million. He is making $950,000 this season on the one-year deal he signed before the season.

“We are excited to have Pavel under contract for another two seasons,” general manager Joe Sakic said in a release. “He has been an important part of our team this year and has performed really well, especially when we needed it most.

“He is a hard-working professional, a great teammate and has earned his opportunity in the NHL.”

No trades so far, so the Avalanche will have the same lineup against Anaheim as they did Wednesday in the 3-1 win against the New York Islanders.

Well, one exception: Sheldon Dries will play after swapping places with T.J. Tynan, who was reassigned to the Colorado Eagles.

GAME NOTES

Francouz will be in goal, of course, as Philipp Grubauer remains out with a lower-body injury. Coach Jared Bednar said Friday there was nothing new to report on his injury.

After a so-so game Monday against Tampa Bay, Francouz was excellent against the Islanders when he made 27 saves and came within 2:14 of his first NHL shutout.

“I kind of felt like I wasn’t really happy with my game (against the Lightning),” Francouz said. “I didn’t play much before that, so it’s always tough. It’s always better if you play more and get some games in a row. You get the game feeling back and I was hoping it was going to come back soon.”

Francouz has a 14-5-3 record this season with a 2.44 goals-against average and .923 save percentage.

He knows he’ll playing a lot more until Grubauer returns, or if Sakic is successful in acquiring a depth goalie before Monday’s NHL trade deadline.

“This is why I’m here, in case something happened to him,” Francouz said. “I’m not happy that he’s hurt, of course. We’re going to miss him a lot, but it’s my job to play now and to help the team win, so I’m going to do my best.”

Bednar said after Wednesday’s game that he’d be fine starting Francouz against the Ducks and again Saturday in Los Angeles. After Friday’s morning skate, he said he’d “re-evaluate” what to do after Friday’s game. Backup Hunter Miska has one period of NHL experience.

“It’s what he’s done while he’s been here that’s built my confidence in him and our team’s confidence in him,” Bednar said. “We feel like he can win us games as he has all year. He’s come in in all kinds of situations – relief, starts. He’s carried the load while Grubi’s been out multiple times already, so we have a lot of confidence in him.

“He was really good (Wednesday), he had to make some saves. We had some breakdowns, but he was really good. The more he plays, the better he is and he kind of finds a rhythm.”

The lineup:

FORWARDS
Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon – Andre Burakovsky
Valeri Nichushkin -- J.T. Compher -- Joonas Donskoi
Matt Nieto -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare -- Martin Kaut
Vladislav Kamenev – Tyson Jost -- Sheldon Dries

DEFENSE
Ryan Graves -- Cale Makar
Samuel Girard -- Erik Johnson
Nikita Zadorov -- Ian Cole

GOALIES
Pavel Francouz
Hunter Miska



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