If ever there was a time for the Avalanche's Semyon Varlamov to step up his game, to start playing the way he did two years ago on a consistent basis, this is it.
There's no doubt Varlamov will be in goal Saturday when Colorado opens a critical home-and-home series with Minnesota in St. Paul, and he will need to play at least as well as he did Thursday in the Avalanche's 2-1 win against the New York Rangers.
This will be the first meeting with the Wild since opening night, when the Avalanche blew a 4-1 third-period lead in that stunning 5-4 loss. The teams play again Monday at the Pepsi Center.
Varlamov has yet to win two games in a row this season. He'll get the chance to do it Saturday at the Xcel Energy Center, where the Wild have gone 9-3-1. Devan Dubnyk made 28 saves Thursday in a 1-0 win against Toronto and has stopped 58 of 59 shots in the Wild's past two games.
"If you're a goalie and you're not confident, the team will feel that and the team will play uncomfortable," Varlamov told reporters. "It's big for the group to go out there and play every game with confidence in the goalie. That's what they want from me."
It also will help if the Avalanche play as well defensively -- this isn't a misprint -- as they did in the past two games, both 2-1 wins. Reto Berra made 27 saves Tuesday against New Jersey.
Varlamov was solid against the Rangers, but he didn't have to make many Grade A saves among the 25 shots he faced. He lost what would have been his first shutout of the season when Oscar Lindberg knocked in a rebound with 49.5 seconds remaining with Rangers goalie Antti Raanta on the bench for a sixth skater.
"Give credit to Colorado. They came in here and played a real structured game that made it challenging to get through the neutral zone," Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. "We spent a lot of time in their end but didn’t get a lot of shots or opportunities for it."
Haven't heard that very often from opposing coaches.
The Avalanche had a season-low 18 shots and got second-period goals from Chris Wagner and Matt Duchene. Wagner, claimed on waivers Nov. 15 from Anaheim, has three goals in the past five games. Duchene has 13 goals in 15 games after getting one in the first 11.
"It shows we can win all types of games," Duchene said. "We know we can win the 6-5 and 5-3 games with our confidence where it is. It’s those one-goal games late in the season ... there were five or six games this year where we were tied or up going into the third period that we lost, which is insane. We’re just a bit more poised and less panicked when those times come now.
"We've had a lot of really good games where we deserved to win and we didn't. It's nice to start getting rewarded. Our record could easily be flipped, that's the frustrating part. But we're staying positive."
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Scary moment in the second period when New York's Rick Nash fell and his skate clipped Erik Johnson in the face. He left with a bloody mouth but, hockey player that he is, returned early in the third period.
"Luckily, I just ran into the skate," Johnson told the Denver Post. "It didn't come up and slice me. I was just a little bit worried. I knew I was cut and saw blood and didn't know exactly where it was coming from -- my face or my neck. I had quite a bit of blood on my hands and my towel."
Johnson needed some stitches for a cut inside his lip. His visor took the brunt of the blade and was scratched. Would have been a lot worse if he didn't wear one.