Goalie Calvin Pickard and forward Dennis Everberg were returned to Lake Erie in the AHL on Sunday, but Avalanche fans might not have seen the last of Pickard just yet.

Coach Patrick Roy said after practice that goalie Reto Berra will have to "earn" playing time. Depending on what happens between now and a five-game road trip with back-to-back games in Washington and Carolina in mid-January, Pickard could get summoned for a fourth time to give Semyon Varlamov a breather.

Roy said Berra will have "the first chance to prove himself," but added that Berra is "lucky today that Pickard is not 25, 26 years old," strongly suggesting that the 22-year-old rookie would still be in Colorado instead of Berra.

Interesting when you take into account the Avalanche traded a second-round draft pick to Calgary to get Berra last March 5 and signed him to a three-year, $4.35 million contract extension that kicked in this season.

Roy said Pickard would have gone back to Cleveland even if he had pitched a shutout Saturday against Chicago. He stopped 28 of 32 shots in the Avalanche's 5-2 loss.

"I thought he played well, it's just the situation we're in," Roy said. "Varly's a hundred percent and we're going to play him a lot. Period. I talked to him yesterday, this morning, and he said he's a hundred percent. This is an important stretch for us. We need to win some hockey games to get back in that playoff race. It's not in March we have to make a decision on that, it's right now."

Roy said he told Pickard: " 'Be ready, we have a big trip in the middle of January and you might play one game or two games in that period of time.' If we feel we need to call him up, we will. But he needs to see a lot of action. We're so impressed and so happy ... the reason why he's been playing so well is because he's seen a lot of action in Lake Erie.

"Plans change all the time. I was planning to rotate Varly and him for the next four games. We just need to win hockey games and I just feel that I'm going to use Varly a lot. Talking with (VP/general manager) Joe (Sakic), he just said, 'Hey, it's better for Calvin to go and continue to play (with Lake Erie).' When he was playing a lot, he was playing very well and he'll have that opportunity with Cleveland."

Pickard went 6-6-2 in 14 games with the Avalanche that included a 2.21 goals-against average (seventh best in the NHL) and .934 save percentage (third best).

Varlamov, who has missed 17 games with three groin injuries, returned Tuesday and made 26 saves in a 5-0 win against St. Louis, where the Avalanche play Monday. A Vezina Trophy finalist last season when he won a league-high and franchise-record 41 times, Varlamov has a 5-6-5 record this year with a 3.01 goals-against average and .913 save percentage.

"I'm not nervous for Varly," Roy said. "He's a strong person and he's been working really hard in the gym. The schedule (has a game) every other day, we play a lot of home games and it's time for us to have our No. 1 goalie playing. He's played 50 percent of our games. It's time for him to play a lot of games. I'm not saying I want him to play 25 games in a row, but you're looking at all the No. 1 guys; they play 80-90 percent of the games."

Berra who turns 28 next Saturday, has a 2-2-1 record with a 3.57 goals-against average and .882 save percentage. He was replaced by Pickard in the first period in each of his past two starts Nov. 22-25 against Carolina and Arizona, allowing a combined six goals on 18 shots. Pickard stopped a total of 42 shots without permitting a goal in two come-from-behind wins.

Berra hasn't played since Dec. 5 when he stopped six of seven third-period shots in relief of Varlamov in a 6-2 loss in Winnipeg.

"He's working harder in the practices," Roy said. "Obviously he needs to try and stop every puck in practice and we'll see how it goes from there."

Confidence for a goalie is extremely important, but Roy said: "You're not going to find it feeling sorry for yourself. He's going to have to work hard. Unfortunately, this is the business we're in. We're in the business where we need to win hockey games. And unfortunately for him, there's a guy that came in and played outstanding for us."

Berra said Sunday he's "ready to go, I feel really good" and is hoping to play as soon as possible.

"(Pickard) played really, really good for us," he said. "He played sick, so it could have gone (either way), that I go somewhere or whatever. I'm happy that I'm here with the team and I'm looking forward to playing soon. You have to work through it. Everything doesn't always go great and sometimes you have to battle through, times like this. It's nice to be here."

*****

Roy said Everberg was returned to Lake Erie for the same reason as Pickard, to play a lot. He had one goal and three assists in 19 games with the Avalanche, no points in six games since returning from a shoulder injury.

"He's another guy that needs to play," he said. "Since he's back from his injury he hasn't played as well as before. I think it would be great for him to see more action, play more than eight, nine minutes per game. If he could play, 10, 15, 20 minutes some games that's going to help his game also."

The Avalanche are down to 11 healthy forwards and seven defensemen, and Roy said no call-ups are planned, so defenseman Nick Holden will return to the fourth line. He's been a healthy scratch the past four games.

"It'll be nice to get back in and contribute anyway I can," Holden said. "I'll do whatever they want me to do. We want to win games right now, that's all that matters."



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