In Denver Wednesday night, Semyon Varlamov made 44 saves to backstop the Colorado Avalanche to a 2-0 win over the visiting Montreal Canadiens.
“You’re always happy when your team wins and you get a shutout. I’m very happy,” Varlamov said.
Varlamov is still getting back to game ready status after being sidelined with a groin injury in early January.
“[This] was a heavy game, very difficult to play,” he said. “It seems like they were shooting from everywhere. We know how important those two points are. We have to play every game like it’s the last game. That’s how we’re going to make the playoffs.”
All the offense Varlamov would need came from Carl Soderberg and Alexander Kerfoot.
“You can give a goaltender credit because there’s no doubt he played well, but it doesn’t matter,” Canadiens head coach Claude Julien said. “You have to find ways to get goals, whether it’s traffic, whether it’s picking up the loose pucks around the net and finding ways to score goals. We can’t keep giving the goaltender on the other side credit all the time. We have to take the responsibility of saying it’s our job to score goals.”
The Avs are two points back of the second wild card spot in the west with a record of 31-21-4.
“We needed that win,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “I don’t know how exactly, but we found a way to get it done. We’ve been good here, I didn’t love us tonight, but [Varlamov] comes up big and gets us a win. That’s what you need sometimes out of your goaltenders. He was really good and we needed the points.”
[WATCH: All Canadiens vs. Avalanche highlights]
Antti Niemi made 23 saves in a hard luck loss; with no offense up front he was unable to hold off the Avs.
“Overall I felt pretty good. Especially on the road, we need some great games from individuals, so I would like to be able to step up and make those saves,” Niemi said after the loss.
The Habs dropped to 22-27-7 with the loss and appear headed to a selling process during the trade season .
You must be logged in to post a comment.