Varly sparks latest victory
The chants were so loud they could startle a ghost.
Var-ly. Var-ly. Var-ly. After Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov stoned Vegas, turning away every shot by the Golden Knights in the shootout during a 2-1 victory that moved Colorado one giant leap closer to the playoffs, it sounded like old times at the Pepsi Center.
Var-ly. Var-ly. Var-ly.
“It was so much fun,” Varlamov said Saturday, sweat thick as rain on his brow, as the 29year-old goalie slumped in the contented exhaustion of a job well done at his locker inside the Colorado dressing room.
While the magic of Nathan Mackinnon, as legit a candidate for most valuable player as can be found anywhere in the NHL, is the No. 1 reason the Avs look bound for the playoffs for the first time since 2014, nobody will determine how far Colorado goes in the postseason more than Varlamov.
Do you remember 2014, when Varlamov won 41 regular-season games and was named a finalist for the Vezina Trophy, as the toughest guy between the pipes in the NHL? Varlamov looked as strong and impenetrable as a wall against Vegas, whose feel-good story is largely the result of its own magnificent goaltender, Marc-andre Fleury.
“That’s the Varly we all know,” said Avalanche captain
Gabe Landeskog.
Fleury won the Stanley Cup three times with Pittsburgh, before moving to the Nevada desert, where an expansion team has shined brighter than all the neon on the Vegas strip. The Golden Knights are more than smoke, mirrors and warm fuzzies, however, because Fleury could make them nearly impossible to beat on any given night in the postseason. He stopped 29 shots against the Avs, including a breakaway chance by Colorado defenseman Erik Johnson in overtime.
But Varlamov was better. He never blinked, never flinched, never backed down. He rejected, smothered and stared down 39 shots, and was particularly good late in regulation time, when the Avalanche looked clueless moving the puck through the neutral zone, giving Vegas far too many chances to steal a game Colorado had led from the time Carl Soderberg scored on a powerplay goal at 13 minutes, 52 seconds of the opening period.
During long stretches of dark times for the Avalanche, when it seemed Varlamov was either recovering from surgery or headed for another doctor’s appointment, he lost his edge, his confidence and his reputation as a goalie that could carry a team on his shoulders. If it wasn’t a sore groin, it was a messed-up hip. It was always something that made Varlamov look old before his time.
Rather than surrender to a downward spiral, Varlamov fought back. His save percentage this season is 91.7, right at his career average. He looks good. He feels good. He is good. The crowd chants his name, chants it so loudly it can raise the ghost of the outstanding goalie Varly used to be.
“I feel pretty good, what can I say?” Varlamov said. “I’m going to feel even better if we make the playoffs. That’s why we’re here. We want to make the playoffs. And that’s why we’re battling every game.”
Var-ly. Var-ly. Var-ly.
“It’s great to hear them chant his name, because he’s worked really hard to get back in shape and get back to playing healthy,” Landeskog said.
In the shootout, Landeskog was the lone shooter on either squad to score, slipping the puck past Fleury with a subtle fake of a backhand shot then ramming home a goal with a forehand smash so sweet it evoked the feeling of Roger Federer ripping a winner down the line at Wimbledon.
There’s no anxiety in sports like the anxiety that squeezes your stick in the NHL playoffs. While it has been a long time since Landeskog or any of his Colorado teammates have experienced the hockey anxiety that can turn your tongue to 100 percent cotton and create tension so hot it burns your ears, he knows any quest for the Cup is a pipe dream unless your goalie stands tall and strong.
“In the playoffs,” Landeskog said, “you’re going to have to be comfortable playing a 1-1 game, a 1-0 game.”
How much happy noise can the Avs make in the postseason?
I can answer that question in three words:
Var-ly. Var-ly. Var-ly.