Varlamov Solid In Return

ST. PAUL, Minn.--It was a tumultuous return to action for Colorado Avalanche netminder Semyon Varlamov, but Tuesday's 2-0 loss at the Minnesota Wild certainly didn't fall on his shoulders.
"You can't win when you don't score goals, and Varly was outstanding for us tonight," forward Matt Duchene said after the match. "It's kind of the same thing over and over, same script. We're not finding ways to score."

While the offense failed to generate enough to win, Varlamov was in peak condition after missing the previous three games with a groin injury. He was lithe. He was spry. He was everywhere he needed to be.
"He played awesome. He gave us a chance to tie that game or win that game, extend that game," defenseman Nikita Zadorov said of the tender. "He made some great saves, and it's what we need from him."
The trouble is that he didn't get much support. He made an athletic save, sprawling across the net to catch a backdoor shot in his glove in the first period, but Minnesota tallied later in the frame while on the power play.
In the second, Varlamov stopped a chance by Eric Staal, who was interfered with on the play. So Varlamov denied Staal again on the ensuing penalty shot. However, Minnesota got the go-ahead marker later in the frame.
He did what he could to keep it close until the very end, turning aside 31 of the 33 shots he faced.
"Varly was great. To me, he picked up right where he left off in Toronto," said head coach Jared Bednar. "For me, that's five or six starts in a row now where he's been real good. We're going to need him to be real good, obviously because we're having trouble scoring goals. He was good tonight. He gave us a chance to win tonight."
Despite all the praise for a truly superb showing, the only thing Varlamov cares about is getting the team a win.
"I felt good today, but we lost. You cannot be excited or happy about my game," he said. "It doesn't matter how I play, we still didn't get two points, which was the most important thing for us."

Colorado couldn't get anything going at the other end of the rink, and that was the difference for the second-straight game that was the difference.
"We're not getting enough shots on net. That's just not good enough offensively," said Duchene. "You got to create stuff to get shots. We had some dangerous looks tonight. Of the 18 shots we did get, I bet we had seven, eight, nine scoring chances. We had some really good looks.
"It's not going to be the perfect play that goes in every time. It has to be some gritty ones, too, and we're not getting that."
The club said it wanted to have a shot mentality after Sunday's loss at the Winnipeg Jets, and that's something that will be a focus ahead of Thursday's home rematch with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
"We need to just score the goals," Zadorov said. "That's all we need."
Special teams is another thing Colorado will look to hone, as the club failed to produce on any of the five power-play opportunities it was given.
"We just got to work more. It's no secret. We're getting into the zone, and we have time to make the right play and we're just giving it away," Duchene said. "You can't score on the power play on the rush all the time. You got to set it up and execute coming into the zone, and we didn't do that tonight well enough. We weren't able to get any momentum going. If anything, they got momentum from us."
"I just felt we had a couple of those guys on our power play that did not have a great night," said Bednar. "When you're fighting the puck against a team that comes after you like that, like they do on the penalty kill--they're fast, they close quickly on you--they don't give you a bunch of time. When you're fighting the puck a little bit, it leads to turnovers. That was kind of the story of the power play for me tonight."
The penalty kill also struggled to shutdown Minnesota's potent offense, allowing the eventual game-winning marker 14:14 into the opening stanza.
Ultimately, the Avalanche was just two tallies away from tying it up. The trick now is finding a way to produce when the pressure is on.
"You got to give Minnesota credit, they're on top of their game right now. They're skating hard. They're checking hard. They don't make a bunch of mistakes. It's hard for everyone to come in here and produce," said Bednar. "We know our history, we've been struggling all year to create offense. But we felt we were still just one shot away from getting into it and getting back into the game and giving ourselves a chance, especially the way Varly was playing. Unfortunately tonight, that just didn't happen."

SODERBERG'S STREAK

Avs center Carl Soderberg skated in his 200th consecutive NHL game on Tuesday night, extending a streak that started with the Boston Bruins and has carried over to Colorado.
Quick to remain out of the spotlight, Soderberg attributes his ability to stay healthy to mere chance.
"I guess I've been lucky. Tried to stay healthy. You can't think about it, just play hard and hopefully there are no problems," he said after morning skate in Minnesota. "It doesn't really mean that much. I've been lucky, and I'm thankful for that."
Others on the team, like linemate Blake Comeau, believe it has as much to do with Soderberg's intelligent style of play.
"I feel like he has really good hockey sense. You know, he's a smart hockey player. He's in the right spots a lot of the time, and he doesn't put himself in any vulnerable positions for the most part," Comeau said. "I think that's been a key. Obviously, he's a big part of this team and for him to be able to play that many games consecutively [shows] that he takes care of himself off the ice. It's a good job by him."

NOTES

Goalkeeper Semyon Varlamov has now stopped five of six career penalty shot attempts against him.
Defenseman Cody Goloubef skated in his 100th NHL game.
Blueliner Patrick Wiercioch and forward Cody McLeod each left Tuesday's game due to injury, but both returned later and finished the contest. McLeod received a high hit from Minnesota's Chris Stewart, while Wiercioch was the victim of a collision with teammate Matt Duchene.
"You're just hoping that both of them come out of it OK," Jared Bednar said of the situations. "I know Patty was hurt for a little bit there, went to the room real quick. And another one there when Stewart ran into McLeod and caught him with a shoulder in the head. At this point, we're hoping those guys are good, that they are able to come back, and both of them made it back to play."