It would be clever to type in Russian here that the Avalanche again has a hot goaltender, but there’s the little matter of having to use the Cyrillic alphabet to pull that off.
So this will have to suffice: The Avalanche has a hot goaltender.
He’s Russian and, perhaps most important in the long run for Colorado, Semyon Varlamov is getting back in the stingy mode that carried Colorado for much of its surprising 2013-14 season.
Coming on the heels of his 54-save shutout at Chicago on Tuesday night, Varlamov stopped 36-of-38 shots in the Avalanche’s 5-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night at the Pepsi Center.
“The last two games, I’ll admit it, we don’t play well enough defensively,” said Avalanche coach Patrick Roy. “As much as we played well before that, now in the last couple of games, I think we could play a lot better. … But I’m not going to complain here. We’re winning hockey games. I think that’s what we want, and Varly was our best player again. Varly is bringing a lot of confidence to the team.”
Said Varlamov: “I feel like the team played well. That’s what I want to say. It’s not me.”
It also was a big night for Colorado’s offseason acquisitions, with Jarome Iginla getting two goals and Brad Stuart and Daniel Briere also scoring. Also, defenseman Erik Johnson got his 11th goal of the season, surpassing his previous career-high season — the 10 he had for the St. Louis Blues in 2009-10.
The victory left the Avalanche with a 17-16-8 record at the halfway point. The 42 points are far short of the Avalanche’s 56 at this juncture a year ago — an amazingly consistent season in which Colorado was 26-11-4 at home, on the road, and in each half.
Colorado closed out the first half with an 8-3-2 stretch and came out of the night five points out of the last playoff spot, yet ahead of only the Minnesota Wild, Arizona Coyotes and Edmonton Oilers in the 14-team Western Conference. A legitimate Avalanche run at a postseason spot doesn’t seem out of the question, but it likely would take something close to another 56-point second half to earn a playoff spot.
With that challenge ahead, Varlamov is starting to look more like the goalie whose play last season earned him a runner-up spot in Vezina Trophy voting and a fourth-place finish in Hart Trophy balloting. The win over Ottawa was the fourth time Varlamov has allowed two or fewer goals in his seven starts since returning to the crease after two extended periods of unavailability because of a groin injury.
Also, Iginla — signed to a three-year deal as an unrestricted free agent July 1 — has greatly benefited from being on a line with fellow veteran winger Alex Tanguay, and the 37-year-old Iginla has quieted fears that his odometer might be on the verge of rolling over. He has five goals in the past eight games, and now 12 for the season.
“I still feel good, and I’m getting a great opportunity here,” Iginla said.
Iginla conceded it would take a big second half to make the playoffs. “What makes me think we are capable of that and the groupthink is that there’s a lot of talent and confidence that is building.”
Terry Frei: tfrei@denverpost.com or
