Semyon Varlamov Dubbed First Star of the Week

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Varlamov followed his stellar performance at the United Center with two great outings at home at Pepsi Center. He made 33 saves in the Avalanche’s 2-1 win over the New York Islanders on Thursday before finishing out the week with a 39-save performance in a 5-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night.

The 27-year-old has now won six consecutive starts while only allowing six goals in that span, tying the longest stretch of his career for the fourth time. He has made 261 saves on 270 shots for a 0.99 goals-against average and .970 save percentage during his current run (364 minutes).

Varlamov is 7-1-0 in eight starts during the month of December, tying him for the league lead in wins in that time. He has also posted a 1.12 goals-against average and .967 save percentage (483 minuntes, 270 shots, nine goals) during the stretch. His strong play between the pipes has helped the Avs to a league-best (tied) 8-2-0 record in the final month of 2015 as well.

Varlamov has compiled a 12-8-1 record, a 2.45 goals-against average and .921 save percentage in 22 games this season, which includes one shutout. He has 19 scoreless contests in his career.

Varlamov is ranked second in Avalanche history with 118 wins, trailing only former goaltender and current head coach Patrick Roy (262). The young Russian’s 230 games played puts him third all-time in the club’s annals as well. Peter Budaj (242) and Roy (478) are the only two keepers with more. Varlamov is also tied with Roy for the best save percentage in team history (.918).

Colorado’s current No. 1 netminder was named to the Avalanche’s 20th Anniversary Team, which was honored in a pregame ceremony prior to the Avs facing the Minnesota Wild on Dec. 7 at Pepsi Center.

Varlamov was a backup for Russia during the 2005 IIHF World U18 Championships, where they finished fifth. He then earned the backup position over Lokomotiv-2 teammate Ivan Kasutin for Russia at the 2006 World Junior Championships as a 17-year-old. Backing up Anton Khudobin, Varlamov did not see much ice time, skating only in a game against Latvia, allowing one goal in a 3–1 round robin win. He earned a silver medal with Russia as they were defeated 5–0 in the final by Canada.

Later that year, Varlamov established himself as the starting netminder for Russia’s under-18 squad at the 2006 IIHF World U18 Championships and finished in fifth place. He began the 2007 Super Series as Russia’s starter at the under-20 level, but was later pulled in the series in favour of Sergei Bobrovsky. He regained the starting position at the 2007 World Junior Championships and recorded a 1.51 GAA (second among tournament goalies to Carey Price of Canada) along with two shutouts. Russia was, however, defeated by Canada for the second consecutive year in the gold medal game to earn another silver medal.

Varlamov was selected to represent the senior Russian squad for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. He was the youngest player on the team by two years, serving as the third-string goaltender on the team, behind starter Evgeni Nabokov and backup Ilya Bryzgalov. Russia’s tournament, however, ended as they lost to Canada 7–3 in the quarter-finals. Varlamov did not see any action in the Olympic tournament.

This is the Avalanche’s second NHL weekly honor of the season. Matt Duchene was previously named the first star of the week on Nov. 16. Varlamov has now been named in the league’s three stars of the week five times with the Avs, two of which occurred last season. He was named second star for the weeks of Jan. 5-11 and March 2-8, 2015.

Duchene was also previously named the third star for the month of November.

TJ Oshie of the Washington Capitals and Mikko Koivu of the Minnesota Wild were the named this past week’s second and third stars, respectively.

By Colorado Avalanche
http://avalanche.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=793838