Hammond Solid In Avalanche Debut

Andrew Hammond's day began at the San Antonio Rampage's practice rink and ended at Pepsi Center with the Colorado Avalanche.
In between was a car ride to nearby Austin and a plane ride from Texas' capital city to that of Colorado's, all in preparation for Wednesday night's Avalanche game against the Philadelphia Flyers.
"It was good. Anytime you come to the NHL, it's a dream come true," Hammond said. "You don't care under what circumstances, you're just happy to be here. The disappointing part is that we weren't able to get the win."

Hammond made his Avs debut against the Flyers and made 31 saves, but Colorado wasn't able to provide enough goal support in a 2-1 loss. It was his first NHL contest since Feb. 7, 2017 against the St. Louis Blues while a member of the Ottawa Senators.
"I thought he was solid," said Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog. "Made the saves that we needed him to. We know we have to score more than one goal to win a hockey game."
Philadelphia took a 2-0 lead at the first intermission, but Colorado was able to cut the deficit in half when Matt Nieto scored on a scramble in the crease 5:36 into the second period. The Avalanche had its opportunities to get another tally, but the club couldn't find twine again.
"We missed on some of our opportunities tonight, especially early in the game," said Avs head coach Jared Bednar. "I thought we had a lot of missed shots. A couple good chances, [J.T.] Compher all alone on a breakaway, Mikko [Rantanen] on an empty net. They capitalized on theirs."
The 30-year-old Hammond was notified of the call-up just prior to the Rampage's 9:30 a.m. CT on-ice session.
"I was getting on the ice for practice in San Antonio, and they let me know that there was a pretty good chance that I would be coming up," Hammond recalled of his day. "Hopped in a car, drove to Austin, took a flight from there, landed. Came from the airport right to the rink."

Hammond has been no stranger to the Avs' roster this year as Wednesday marked his fifth recall from the American Hockey League. He had served as the backup netminder to Semyon Varlamov or Jonathan Bernier 17 times earlier this season.
With Varlamov ill and Bernier still recovering from an infection from a cut on his hand, Colorado turned to the veteran Hammond who had 55 games of NHL experience, which included a 20-1-2 record in 2014-15 that helped the Ottawa Senators make the postseason.
"Under the circumstances, I thought Hammond did a nice job, gave us a chance to win," Bednar said. "We got to find a way to score a couple of goals."

The Avalanche acquired Hammond on Nov. 5 in a three-team trade with Ottawa and the Nashville Predators but had the goalie stay with his previous AHL team in Belleville, Ontario, so he could continue to get meaningful minutes. He had been in San Antonio since last Thursday after he was cleared to return to game action following a concussion he suffered while with Colorado in late February.
The Surrey, British Columbia, native made his Rampage debut on Saturday and made 31 saves in a 2-1 win against the Texas Stars. That performance propelled him back to the NHL four days later.
"I felt pretty comfortable coming in. I felt good about my game from Saturday, and I felt like I could carry that over," Hammond said. "It was just unfortunate I couldn't get my legs under me a little bit sooner."

VARLY UPDATE

Semyon Varlamov didn't play in a game for the first time since Feb. 11, ending an 21-game appearance streak for the Colorado netminder.
Varlamov didn't participate in morning skate on Wednesday, and the team recalled Hammond from the AHL in case Varlamov couldn't play. With Varlamov later ruled out, Hammond was given the starting duties as backup Jonathan Bernier was also out with an infection from a cut.
Bednar said after the contest that he was hopeful that Varlamov could return for Friday's game against the Chicago Blackhawks.
Varlamov's consecutive game streak was one shy of tying his career long of 22 (all starts) that he set in 2014-15.

ALT VERSUS FORMER MATES

Defenseman Mark Alt played against the Philadelphia Flyers for the first time since departing the club via waivers on Feb. 26.
Eight of Alt's 11 NHL games this season--and nine in his career--have come while a member of the Flyers, but he's now played three in a row with the Avalanche and is proving solid depth for the team's defense.
"I thought he was good again. Just simple, makes plays, defends hard," Bednar said of Alt following Wednesday's game. "Get his shots through. He had one good look that just missed, one at the end of the game there."
The Minnesota native practiced nearly four weeks with the Avalanche before getting in his first game with the squad on Saturday versus the Vegas Golden Knights. He's mostly been paired with rookie Samuel Girard in even-strength situations.
Alt finished the Wednesday's outing with four shot attempts, one hit, one takeaway and one blocked shot in 12:12 of ice time.