The good news for the Colorado Avalanche is that they finally beat the Minnesota Wild by a score of 3-2 on Sunday. The bad news is that Semyon Varlamov seemed shaken up during that win.
Varlamov took a Matthew Dumba shot up high and clearly seemed stunned for a bit during the contest, yet he gutted out most of the contest ... until he gave way to Reto Berra with about six minutes remaining in the third period.
That’s a troubling initial sign, although NHL.com’s Rick Sadowski passes along an early sign of optimism:
#Avs finally beat #Wild have to see about Varlamov injury; he was high-fiving guys coming into room, good sign. #Avalanche
— Rick Sadowski (@RickS7) March 9, 2015
Update: Patrick Roy only revealed that it was a lower-body issue:
Patrick Roy said the injury to goalie Semyon Varlamov is lower-body, possible cramp. Update later. #Avs
— Mike Chambers (@MikeChambers) March 9, 2015
Varlamov certainly contributed to the win, stopping 29 out of 30 shots before making way to Berra. He’s been on quite the run in general, really.
Semyon Varlamov's shutout streak of 124:19 was the 2nd-longest of his career; his best is a streak of 129:23 from March 1-6, 2012. (Elias)
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) March 9, 2015
The Avalanche have now won three in a row and four of five games (also six of eight), and while they have a long way to go, this could be a significant confidence-booster.
If nothing else, they avoided losing all five games to an increasingly hated rival in 2014-15.
