Golden Knights hint at a major change to their lineup for Game 1 against the Avalanche.

The Golden Knights had a tough time in round 1 of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs as a result of the Minnesota Wild proving to be a much greater challenge than many had expected coming into the series and although there were a number of players who played key roles in getting them the eventual series win over the Wild, none may have had a bigger contribution than goaltender Marc Andre Fleury.

Fleury was simply outstanding over all 7 games, not only taking on a huge workload for the Golden Knights but also putting up good numbers while doing so. Fleury's 1.71 goals against average and .931 save percentage over the first round were outstanding and the expectation was that he would once again be given the net coming into the second round against a Colorado Avalanche team that many believe is the top contender to win it all this season.

That may still be the case but on Monday we got several signs that would appear to indicate that Fleury will not in fact be the Golden Knights starter for Game 1 of this series, with head coach Peter Deboer instead giving goaltender Robin Lehner a shot to take the net. To be clear no official announcement has been made as of the time of this writing, but Golden Knights Jesse Granger indicated that it would be Lehner getting the start in Game 1 after he was the first goaltender off the ice during Sunday's morning skate.

Not only is Granger usually spot on when it comes to all things Golden Knights, but Lehner himself would appear to confirm the news just a little later when he responded directly to Granger's comments on Twitter. Even though he used no words and his choice of GIF certainly leaves a lot of room for interpretation, I took this to mean that Lehner was also indicating that he would be the starter in Game 1.

What Lehner was trying to symbolize here is really up to speculation. The explosion of the mountains could signal his intention to Destroy the Avalanche, who have a mountain featured prominently on their logo, or it could simply be an indication that he expects social media to blow up with the news of him getting the start in the second round of the playoffs. Your guess is as good as mine.