Avalanche coach Jared Bednar expects his team and goalie Semyon Varlamov to have a bounce-back game Saturday against the Vegas Golden Knights at the Pepsi Center following Thursday's 7-1 pummeling at the hands of Anze Kopitar and the Los Angeles Kings.
Varlamov allowed five goals -- three of the four that Kopitar scored -- on 20 shots before he was replaced by Jonathan Bernier at 12:27 of the second period.
Bernier is healthy and stopped 13 of 15 shots in relief after missing five games to recover from a concussion, but Varlamov will make his 20th consecutive appearance Saturday, his 18th as a starter in this stretch.
"I just talked to Varly, and looking at his history after a tough game, he's been really good," Bednar said after practice Friday. "Got a little rest, had a good practice today -- short, quick practice -- so we like the way he's played, so we're going to go back with him."
Varlamov allowed seven goals on 21 shots in a 7-0 loss in Las Vegas on Oct. 27.
"It's gone," Bednar said. "Both teams are completely different now. We're not really looking back at that one. We didn't have a good night, similar to (Thursday) night. There'll be a couple things that we look at out of there, look at some more of their recent games to get prepared."
Does Bednar expect to start Bernier at some point in the next week?
"Depending on how Varly feels, how he's playing, it's a possibility," Bednar said.
Center Carl Soderberg practiced after missing two games with an illness and will play against the Golden Knights, who became the first expansion team in NHL history to reach 100 points in a first season Thursday with a 2-1 overtime loss in San Jose.
Vegas leads the Pacific Division, trails Nashville by six points for first place in the Western Conference, and is on the verge of clinching a playoff berth.
"They're a hard working team," Bednar said. "One of the similarities to them and L.A. is they're going to wait for you to make mistakes, or force you into mistakes. They're a patient group, willing to come at you the same way the whole night. We've done a good job of that as a team for quite some time.
"(Thursday) night was not one of those nights. We can't have any passengers because they're a deep team. They play everyone, they come at you in waves."
Probable Avalanche lineup:
FORWARDS Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen Tyson Jost -- J.T. Compher -- Sven Andrighetto Matt Nieto -- Carl Soderberg -- Blake Comeau Colin Wilson -- Alexander Kerfoot -- Gabriel Bourque
DEFENSE Patrik Nemeth -- Erik Johnson Nikita Zadorov -- Tyson Barrie David Warsofsky -- Samuel Girard
GOALIES Semyon Varlamov Jonathan Bernier