Facing a must-win game on home ice against a floundering opponent that had just been eliminated from playoff contention 24 hours earlier, it was a familiar face who manned the net when the Avalanche took the ice tonight.

Instead of starting Philipp Grubauer, arguably the hottest goaltender in the NHL over the last two weeks and the man responsible for backstopping Colorado’s 6-0-2 run in the last eight games, Semyon Varlamov made his first appearance since March 15. That night, the Avalanche lost 5-3 at home to the Anaheim Ducks, a team long out of the playoff race and with nothing to play for (sound familiar?), and it seemed like the dagger into the heart of the season.

Colorado again failed to show up on time for the start of the game as Edmonton jumped out to an 8-0 lead in shots on goal, reminiscent of the 15-2 shelling laid on them in St. Louis last night. They walked out of the Blues ordeal just down 1-0 and again Colorado found themselves on the wrong end of the always-important first goal. Milan Lucic’s tip of a Matthew Benning shot headed two feet wide of the net was just his sixth of the season (yikes!) and silenced the Pepsi Center.

Darnell Nurse scored from an impossible angle on a shot that also wasn’t originally headed on target but Varlamov’s instincts kicked in and he accidentally deflected it into the goal himself and the Avs were down 2-0 after the first period to a team they mathematically eliminated from the playoffs with their shootout loss to the Blues.

“I actually felt pretty good,” Varlamov said. “The first five minutes they were shooting from everywhere then they scored that goal from the tip and then scored the lucky goal from the dead angle. I was kind of upset a little bit but I knew it was an important game so I knew like it doesn’t matter how the first period goes. I had to stay focused the whole game. We came out really strong in the second period and scored four goals and gave me a lot of confidence.”

Colorado found their groove later in the first period and that 8-0 shot deficit and 2-0 hole on the scoreboard turned into a 4-2 lead and 23-17 shot advantage. The second period was, well, an avalanche of goals, capped by Colin Wilson putting Connor McDavid on the wrong end of a highlight-reel goal with his spin-o-rama backhander. Colorado added two more goals in the third period to turn the final score into a laugher but quietly working behind all of the fun was Varlamov, who simply kept turning away opportunities and gobbling up pucks when they came his direction.

“It wasn’t easy,” Varlamov told BSN Denver. “I haven’t played for 16 days or something like that. I tell you one thing, I hate sitting on the bench. It feels like, when you don’t play, you don’t feel sharp coming back in the first game. I’m glad the head coach made the decision to put me back in to play today because I needed that game just to get back on track and feel confident again. A big win for me and a big win for the boys, 100%.”

Like much of his time in Colorado, this one was a roller coaster. Varlamov is set to face unrestricted free agency for the first time in his career this summer and at times this year, it looked like the obvious answer was for Colorado to re-sign him and give them insurance on the investment they made in Grubauer last summer. Before this hot stretch, Grubauer had been sitting on a save percentage of .890, far below even league average and a warning that maybe Colorado’s goaltender of the future simply wasn’t that guy.

Then Grubauer got hot, Varlamov faltered just enough, and the Avalanche have gone nuclear with Grubauer in net as they have racked up 14 of 16 possible points since the loss to the Ducks. Tonight’s win and Arizona’s loss against Los Angeles tonight moved them to a magic number of just one, meaning any combination of Colorado getting a point or Arizona losing a point in the final two games will result in the Avalanche securing their second consecutive playoff berth.

Despite Grubauer’s exceptional play, he’s still human and needed a break. Head coach Jared Bednar turned to the man who two head coaches before him also turned to in hopes of getting the big win. In a career marked by questionable results in big moments, Colorado got the result they needed with its most familiar face in goal.

“[Bednar] told me last night on the plane that Grubi needed to rest,” Varlamov said. “He played eight games in a row and the schedule was very difficult and he played outstanding all those games so he needed the break. Coach gave me the chance to play and I’m glad the team played very well and scored lots of goals and I’m glad we won today. Huge two points.”

Varlamov is second behind in Avalanche history behind Patrick Roy in most of Colorado’s major goaltending categories and has been the man behind the mask for the better part of the last decade. Colorado’s first attempt at a rebuild began in 2009-10 and Varlamov arrived two years later and it seems just when the Avalanche are finally coming out of the basement for a while, they are preparing to move on from Varlamov.

The uncertain future facing Varlamov made tonight his 388th and possibly final start in Pepsi Center as a member of the Colorado Avalanche.

“I don’t have a contract for next year, everybody knows that,” Varlamov said. “Of course, I didn’t think about it during the game that this would be my last game. I was just trying to stay focused and win this game because it’s important for us. We’re fighting for the playoffs. We want to make sure to put those teams behind us so I was just thinking about this game.”

If this was it for Varlamov in Denver, it was the rare swan song that didn’t end on a sad note.

Takeaways from the game

• The win tonight knocked Central Division rivals Minnesota and Chicago out of the playoffs. I asked Varlamov if this made the win sweeter and in a spot-on Ivan Drago impression, he responded: “We don’t care about them.” Ice. Cold.
• Nathan MacKinnon scored his 40th goal of the season tonight. I remember watching him annihilate the World Cup of Hockey a couple of Septembers ago as part of that obscene Team North America (soon to be Team Canada if they let NHLers back into the Olympics) and I remember tweeting out “Yeah, he’s going to score 40 this year.” It took three seasons but…nailed it! The goal was his 97th point of the season, matching the career high he set last season. He has two games left to hit the century mark. What a special player he’s developed into.
• Tyson Barrie pushed his career high in points on a season to 58 tonight. He’s one shy of the 59 Ray Bourque put up once upon a time. If you’re going to be a flawed defender, dropping a near-60-point season on the NHL is a pretty damn good way to make up for it. When he’s playing with confidence, there just aren’t many defensemen in the league who can produce as he does. My goodness, what an offensive outburst in the wake of big injuries up front.
• Nikita Zadorov was a blast to watch tonight as he laid the wood on some fools who dared cross into his path with the puck and he blasted a few shots on goal, nearly scoring twice. His two-way game has really been fun to watch in the final 20 games or so and he made a great defensive play that helped create Barrie’s goal.
• Alexander Kerfoot is following a very similar path to last season as he started off hot, cooled a bit in the second half, and then finished strong. His two goals tonight give him eight points in the last six games. With Mikko Rantanen out, this is exactly what Colorado needed.
• Kerfoot’s second goal was odd. It was initially called goaltender interference on the ice because they ruled Kerfoot pushed the pad into the net. Colorado challenged and the review ultimately reversed the on-ice call because it was determined Kerfoot was in contact with the puck the entire time he was pushing his stick forward. This was the crucial factor in overturning the call and it being a good goal. The NHL replay process remains clunky as ever.
• Colin Wilson’s strong play to end the season continued and while the team was shutting down Connor McDavid offensively, Wilson put him into the blender on his backhand goal. McDavid certainly isn’t a great defensive player but it’s still not often you see him on the wrong end of a highlight like that. Good for Wilson, not quite as good for McDavid.
• The Kings winning in Arizona helped Colorado two-fold tonight. With the loss, Arizona’s magic number dropped from three to just one, meaning they have to win their final two games just to have a chance to still make the playoffs. Colorado simply needs one point to slam the door on the Coyotes. The Kings win also moved them to seven points ahead of the Ottawa Senators for 31st in the NHL. Ottawa has just three games remaining, clinching the top draft lotto odds for Colorado.
• The NHL Draft lottery will be held next Tuesday night at 6PM Mountain Time.
• Longtime Twitter follower of mine Jack Wilkie pointed out that Colorado could theoretically win the NHL Draft lottery next Tuesday, begin their playoff run next Wednesday/Thursday, and watch top prospect Cale Makar win the Hobey Baker on Friday night. That kind of trifecta may never happen again in NHL history.