Surprise! Varlamov to start Saturday against Vegas

Proclaiming faith in his much-worked goaltender of late, Semyon Varlamov, Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said he will get the start Saturday against the Pacific Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights at the Pepsi Center.

“I got a lot of faith in our guys, I mean they have earned it. They have earned the trust of our coaching staff and their teammates all year long,” Bednar said. “They’ve found a way to respond after wins and after losses and sometimes you just get beat… We know that we can do it, it’s just up to our guys to respond and get back at it Saturday.”

Varlamov is 8-0-1 this season after a loss in which he allowed four goals or more. So, the statistics back Bednar’s decision.

But there are a lot of Avs fans worried about Varlamov’s workload of late, and might have assumed the rested, capable Jonathan Bernier would give Varly his first real game off in more than a month. It won’t happen. Varlamov will be the man in, to this point, the biggest game of the season.

One player that everyone will be glad to see in uniform for the Avs Saturday is center Carl Soderberg. After missing two games with an illness, he will return.

LEFTOVER NOTES FROM THURS/FRI.

Nathan MacKinnon extended his point streak to a career-long 14 games, the longest
active streak in the NHL and third-longest this season behind Taylor Hall (19) and
Patrik Laine (15). It’s the longest point streak by an Avalanche player since Paul
Stastny’s 20-game run in 2006-07.

Mikko Rantanen extended his point streak to eight games, matching his career-long
streak set earlier this year (Dec. 12-29). He also became the fourth Finnish player to
register 80 points in a season (Jari Kurri, Teemu Selanne, Olli Jokinen) and the fifth
Finnish-born player to reach the mark (Tomas Sandstrom was born in Finland but
represented Sweden in international competition).

MacKinnon (9g, 12a) and Rantanten (7g, 14a) each have 21 points this month, tied for
the league lead in scoring in March.

Nikita Zadorov recorded a career high 15 hits, an Avalanche record and the most by
any NHL player in a single game since 2005-06.
The Avalanche was 1-for-2 on the penalty kill, just the ninth time Colorado has
surrendered a power-play goal at home in 2017-18. The Avs are 107-for-116 (92.2%)
on the penalty kill on home ice, the top-ranked PK unit in the league.