Martin Relishing Opportunity With Avalanche

Goaltender Spencer Martin knows his present role for the Colorado Avalanche is to serve as the backup for Calvin Pickard and provide support for the club until Semyon Varlamov is fully healed from his minor groin injury.
Martin's time in the NHL might be limited before the 21-year-old heads back to the American Hockey League, but he is soaking up everything so he's ready for his return to the major leagues.

"It's a pretty special opportunity," Martin said Friday morning. "My rookie season in the AHL, getting to come up here twice already and learning how they execute things in practice and how they focus and also learning how they carry themselves off the ice. It's a whole another level. It's the dream come true to play here, and I'm just working to show that I'm ready as soon as possible."
Martin is in his second stint with the Avs and has been around the team for the last three days since being recalled on Tuesday. He dressed as the backup for Wednesday's contest against the Philadelphia Flyers, and he'll be in the same spot on Friday night versus the Florida Panthers with Pickard making another start in net.
He received his first career NHL call-up on Nov. 25 and was on the bench as the reserve netminder for the following night's game against the Vancouver Canucks.
Martin is already starting to feel comfortable in Colorado.
"Just being around it before I get thrown in, it helps me get used to the environment," Martin said. "You know, it feels a lot more normal. It might seem silly, but it feels more normal to be here than the first time I was called up. Just building confidence and continue the work that I did in San Antonio."
The Avalanche's third-round pick (63rd overall) in the 2013 NHL Draft was carving out a decent season with the San Antonio Rampage in the AHL before his recent recalls.
Martin had been thrown into the primary starter role in San Antonio with Jeremy Smith out with an upper-body injury and has thrived. He was tied for the league lead with 11 wins and had put together respectable numbers with a 2.31 goals-against average and .924 save percentage.

The Oakville, Ontario, native has been taking advantage of his time in the NHL and noted that if he wants to someday play at the highest level of the sport, he'll have to master close range shots.
"I was talking with goalie coach Francois Allaire, and the first thing is the direct shot, the shot from the slot," Martin said. "How often can you save it in practice, because if you're going to have a career in the NHL, that is going to dictate my success. Just working on keeping my save percentage up in practice so it eventually turns into a game."
Martin is competing hard in practices, but he's also taking the role of careful observer, seeing how the rest of the players act and prepare themselves mentally and physically. That's especially the case when it comes to Varlamov and Pickard.
"I look up to everybody, but I look up to those guys the most because obviously they play the same position and are working with the same goalie coach. They're kind of further down the line of the progress that I'm making, and I look up to them," Martin said of the other two keepers on the Avalanche's roster. "Varly is such a perfectionist, you know. Even when guys are goofing around, he's still preparing as if it was a game. I look to mimic that."
Varlamov appears close to returning from his minor ailment. He skated for the first time by himself after Thursday's practice and took shots during Friday's morning skate. Varlamov will be on the upcoming road trip if he continues to make progress and could possibly play as early as Sunday afternoon in Winnipeg if everything keeps going well.
Until Varlamov is healthy enough, Martin is going to keep working hard and showing off his improvement to the Avs' coaches and staff.
And of course, be ready for the call to take the crease, if necessary.
"I'm thinking tonight, you don't want the starting goalie to get injured or pulled, but it's possible that a backup goalie goes in," Martin said. "I'm always going to be ready because it could be my first NHL game.
"Prepare myself like I'm going to play and when I'm on the bench, stay in the game as much as I can."

GELLY'S TIME

There are no lineup changes expected for the Avalanche's contest this evening against the Florida Panthers, meaning defenseman Eric Gelinas should play in his third consecutive game.
Gelinas had been a healthy scratch for seven of eight games but has seen more time recently now that fellow blueliner Erik Johnson is out for at least another month with a leg injury. The Vanier, Ontario, native has played in four of the last six contests but only 11 games total this season.

"Being in and out is tough on the confidence," Gelinas said. "Being a regular and playing good minutes and stuff, I think it feels good. It kind of shows you that the coaches are starting to trust you and that feels good, for sure."
He said he's starting to feel the game more but also admitted its been hard with him being out of the lineup for so long.
"It's tough. When you're in and out, you don't want to make mistakes to [give] an easy out for the coaches to pull you out for the next game," Gelinas said. "You don't play the same way [as you can]. You play with your stick too tight and stuff like that and you think too much. I'm trying to get rid of that. Playing three games in a row right now, it's kind of going away slowly. It feels good to be out there."
The 25-year-old Gelinas has been paired on defense recently with veteran Francois Beauchemin, and the duo appears to be staying together for tonight's matchup. Beauchemin missed Thursday's practice with a minor upper-body injury, but head coach Jared Bednar said the rear guard would play against Florida.

PROJECTED LINEUP

Gabriel Landeskog - Nathan MacKinnon - Rene Bourque
Mikhail Grigorenko - Matt Duchene - Mikko Rantanen
Blake Comeau - John Mitchell - Jarome Iginla
Cody McLeod - Carl Soderberg - Andreas Martinsen
Fedor Tyutin - Tyson Barrie
Nikita Zadorov - Patrick Wiercioch
Eric Gelinas - Francois Beauchemin
Calvin Pickard
Spencer Martin