Roy holds goalie Varly responsible for this loss
With a Hall of Fame, ring- filled playing career in the net at Montreal and Colorado, Patrick Roy earned the right to have high goaltending standards. And of late, with Roy watching from the bench, Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov hasn’t lived up to them.
Although the Avalanche played awful, brain- locked hockey in front of their Russian goalie in the first period ofwhat turned out to be a potentially pivotal 6- 3 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night, Roy wasn’t letting Varlamov — who gave up three goals in the first 17: 48— off the hook. Roy sent out Calvin Pickard at the start of the second, then after the game said that he indeed was finding Varlamov culpable rather than simply looking to change things up.
Varlamov faced 12 shots in the period. The Minnesota goals came on a 2- on- 1 and two breakaways, and the Avs played as if they still were mad at Varlamov for his lackluster showing in the Stadium Series loss to Detroit on Saturday night.
But Roy— and who should know better? — seemed to be saying: Sometimes, you
“These are important saves,” Roy said. “That’s what Pickard did at the start of the second period. I knowit’s breakaways and I know it was a 2- on- 1. We could have done better in those areas, but it’s part of the game.” Has Pickard taken over the crease? “He’ll probably play the next game, yes,” Roy said. “But know what? I’m not going to throw Varly under the bus here. There’s highs and lows in a career, and those things happen. Right now, it’s a bit tougher time for him, and Pick’s been playing really well.”
With Pickard in the net, Wild defenseman Charlie Coyle’s goal at 5: 34 of the third period broke a 3- 3 tie, and the Wild went on to the victory that pulled them even with the Avalanche, at 68 points, in the chase for the second and final Western Conference wildcard playoff spot. Zach Parise’s pass setup Coyle for a tap- in, and Pickard — who stopped 16- of- 17 shots in his two periods of work— couldn’t get over tomake the save.
Coyle and Nino Niederreiter added empty- netters in the final 87 seconds.
The Wild is 7- 1- 1 in its last nine against Colorado and is ahead of the Avs in the standings because it has played one fewer game.
“All four of their goals, we gave them,” Matt Duchene said of the non- empty- netters. “We gave them every good look like that. Picks and Varly too, made some good saves. They made good plays, but we gave it up. That’s when it’s frustrating. We played probably our best game in here that I can remember.”
Jarome Iginla, Chris Bigras and Cody McLeod had the goals for the Avs as Colorado’s young standouts didn’t step up. The Avs also came up short in the first games for winger Mikkel Boedker and defenseman Eric Gelinas, acquired Monday at the trading deadline.
Before Colorado temporarily went into the brain- lock mode, Iginla pulled into a tie for 17th place on the NHL’s all- time goalscoring list with a power- play score only 33 seconds into the game. The goal, on the familiar Iginla one- timer from the left circle off a Tyson Barrie pass, was the 608th of the sure- to- be- Hall of Famer’s career, and he’s now tied with Dino Ciccarelli, who was in Denver over the weekend to play for the Red Wings alumni.
After that, Varlamov was on an island for the goals from Niederreiter on the 2- on- 1 with only Erik Johnson back and passive; and on the breakways from Jason Pominville and Eric Haula. Pominville’s actually came off a faceoff in the Minnesota end, with neither Barrie nor Nick Holden getting back quick enough. “Bad mistake by me,” Barrie said.
The Avalanche closed to 3- 2 at 3: 25 of the second on Bigras’ first career goal. The rookie defenseman beat Devan Dubnyk to the short side fromthe left circle, converting a cross- slot pass from Duchene. Then the fourth line chipped in, with McLeod scoring to make it 3- 3, stunning fans in a sellout crowd that earlier likely had been thinking they were watching a blowout.
Coyle’s goal and the two empty-netters helped sent them home happy.
The Avalanche opens a fourgame homestand against Florida on Thursday.