Semyon Varlamov got the win, in a shutout victory. He also got hurt. Again.

That was the worrisome rejoinder to an otherwise good night for the Avs, who  beat the Chicago Blackhawks 5-0 at the Pepsi Center, though they remained one point back in the Western Conference playoff hunt behind Chicago and St. Louis.

In what might end up being the most important play of the game, Blackhawks forward Tomas Jurco drove the net hard in the third period and collided at high speed with Varlamov, who made the save anyway. The problem came immediately after as Varlamov was in obvious pain and remained down for several minutes, eventually leaving in favor of Jonathan Bernier, who had been out himself recently with an infected right thumb.

About the win…

Sam Girard picked up the puck behind his own net and found Sven Andrighetto in the neutral zone and instead of dumping the puck in or passing it off, he fought through two defensemen and beat Collin Delia high on the short side to give Colorado a 1-0 lead and give a jolt of energy to the home team and its crowd.

The Avs found their legs and began pushing back hard but the game went into the second period with Colorado maintaining it’s one-goal advantage.

That advantage was in jeopardy early as Chicago again came out with some energy but Colorado quickly nipped it in the bud. Upon drawing another penalty, the Avs extended their lead to two when Tyson Barrie fired one from the blueline that found its way through traffic.

The Avalanche and Blackhawks traded quality chances the rest of the period and Barrie bailed Varlamov out with two saves of his own on the goal line to preserve the shutout.

With former Av and current double agent Andreas Martinsen activated, he took a penalty in the third period to give Colorado another power play. Not looking to waste their opportunity, Mikko Rantanen buried a one-timer on a classic cross-ice pass from MacKinnon to put Colorado ahead 3-0 at 6:25 of the third period.

Not satisfied with the most dangerous lead in hockey, the Avalanche continued pouring it on just minutes later when Alexander Kerfoot combined with Barrie and Tyson Jost to tic-tac-twine the Blackhawks, with Jost getting the goal.

Andrighetto decided to run it back with one last solo act as he blasted through about 120 feet of the ice with the puck and fired off a wrister that beat Delia, making it 5-0 and bringing Colorado’s reign of terror against Chicago this season to an unmerciful close.

The Avs remained one point back of Anaheim, however, as the Ducks beat the Kings in overtime. The teams play Sunday night at the Honda Center in the Avs’ biggest showdown game of the season. At least, until that point.