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Congratulations to Matt Duchene, who will be bringing an Olympic gold medal back to Colorado as a member of Canada's championship team.

The Avalanche center had a shot on goal Sunday in Canada's 3-0 win against Sweden. Gabriel Landeskog had three shots on goal for the Swedes and was awarded a silver medal.

So bragging rights belong to Duchene, the Avalanche's leading scorer with 50 points (19 goals, 31 assists) in 55 games. He was in a goal-scoring slump heading to the Olympic break with three goals in 24 games, but he also had 17 assists in that stretch while anchoring an effective line with Ryan O'Reilly and Jamie McGinn.

Duchene will be returning to the NHL on an emotional high that can only give him a boost of confidence as the Avalanche gets ready for the final 24 regular-season games and the stretch run to the playoffs.

Landeskog and Paul Stastny, whose USA team was blanked in the final two games and failed to win a medal, are even-keel type of guys who shouldn't be adversely affected by the disappointment of not winning gold. They were both playing well before the break and there's no reason to believe that won't continue.

The same isn't necessarily true for goalie Semyon Varlamov, who is expected to return to Avalanche practice sessions soon. He was so looking forward to playing on home ice in the Olympics and was pulled in Russia's 3-1 loss to Finland in a quarterfinal game after playing well in his first two starts. Russia's failure to win a medal was a big disappointment for Varlamov and his countrymen, including Russia President Vladimir Putin.

On the other hand, Varlamov managed to keep his composure and play quite well during the month or so after he was charged in a domestic violence case. The charges were eventually dismissed and he's been the Avalanche's most valuable player.

Varlamov will need to play the way he did before the break for the Avalanche to officially clinch a playoff berth and have some success after that.

"Varly is a great person and he wants to do well," Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said. "I have no doubt in my mind that he's not happy about the way that he played and he's going to look at himself in the mirror. I think that's what makes a career. It's not always perfect. That's the way it was for me anyway, and I think it's going to make him a better hockey player.

"It's going to help him approach how he's going to play until the end of the year and the playoffs. It's always how you bounce back."

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