The Roy Report: Varlamov, Martinsen, Motivation, and Head Shots

Welcome to the Roy Report! Every Wednesday, Avalanche head coach Patrick Roy peels back the curtain on the team during an in-depth radio interview on FM 104.3 The Fan. Even if you missed it, BSN Denver has your back, providing both a recap and analysis to keep you up to speed.

Roadtrip & Varlamov

There is no doubt the Avs did a very good job on their roadtrip over the past week.  The banked wins in Nashville, St. Louis, and Chicago, on top of ending Patrick Kane‘s 26 game point streak.  Roy was understandably pleased, but he knew the team was on track for success.  One of the main reasons?  The play of goalie Semyon Varlamov.

Since the Rangers game, he’s been playing phenomenal.  Even though the team played well in front of him against Nashville and Chicago, he stole the game in St. Louis. He faced a ton of shots and high danger scoring chances, but played like he did two years ago.  His solid play brought confidence to the team.  He did make some key saves last night, but the rest of the club was sharp in front of him, especially in the neutral zone and penalty kill.

It was mentioned that Roy called him out on the show a couple weeks ago, and the radio guys wanted to know if something had changed since then.  In Roy’s view, the only thing that has changed was confidence.  After the first game of the season, Varlamov’s confidence dropped, and it snowballed from there.  He’s been working hard in the meantime, so he had Roy’s support, but the coach feels it’s his duty to let the fans know what the team was thinking.  Varlamov already knew that he needed to play better if the team was going to make the playoffs anyway.  The goalie needs to be the club’s best player, and he was exactly that on the roadtrip.

Speaking of Varlamov, he was the subject of the Play of the Week:

The coach was asked what saves like that do for the bench, and just like with Varlamov, they bring confidence.  On the road trip, the team did their job in the first period and netted a 2-0 lead in most of the games.  That was important, but knowing that their goalie was on point allowed the team to stand the opposition up at the blueline, make checks, and play a bit more relaxed.   It was very important for the success of the team.

Patrick Kane Point Streak

The Avs didn’t have a special plan for Kane, but they did have a plan for the Blackhawks in general.  Preventing Toews and Kane from entering the zone with speed and pressuring the club defensively to prevent CHI’s quick puck movement were key.  The team accomplished their goal.  Kane had only 2-3 shots directed at the net, zero shots on goal, a giveaway, and a -1 rating.  Roy felt it speaks a lot to the commitment of his group when it comes to blocking shots and shutting players like that down.

Landeskog & Martinsen

On the other hand, the best line on the ice last night was Duchene – MacKinnon – Landeskog.  The Captain was especially impressive, banking one goal, one assist, five blocked shots, and two hits.  As the leader of the club, when he plays like that, the team is going to win a lot of games.  He’s capable of it, and he really helped make that line dangerous last night.

However, the line that Roy was very happy with happened to be the Soderberg line. Soderberg himself has played very well, and Comeau and Mitchell have done a great job on the penalty kill.   However, Andreas Martinsen has particularly impressed his coach, especially with his physicality and hits against Jackman and Hossa in the past week.  Roy stressed multiple times how much the team was missing that element in their lineup, and he’s also extremely pleased how hard it is to take away the puck from Martinsen in the offensive zone.  The team started him in the minors to adjust to North American ice and style of play, but he’s adapted very well.

Up & Down Season

There’s no doubt that the team has had a lot of ups and downs this season.  Roy was asked if there was a sense of essentially “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” in the locker room.  Tentatively, he agreed, but he still believes the team needs to do a lot better playing at home.  The team has gotten business done on the road with an 11-9 record over their league-leading 20 away games.  They’ve even done that in tough buildings, like MTL, NYR, NSH, STL, and CHI.

However, the first loss against Minnesota at home has played big in their mind, and they’ve lost a number of games at home after heading into the 3rd period with a lead. To remedy this, the team needs to keep their play more simple like they do on the road, allowing plays to come to them instead of trying to force them.  They almost want to win too badly, so they take unnecessary risks instead of making the right play. They’ve also struggled to establish a rhythm at home since their longest homestand to date has only been two games.

Luckily, they have nine of their next ten games at home.  It provides the team with a great opportunity to push themselves back into the playoff picture.  They’re 8th in the conference, but they’re only five points out of the wild card.  If they can be sharp at home and build off their recent strong play, they can turn that around.  With three more games before Christmas break, they’d like to bump their home record up to .500.

Motivation for Big Games

On the road this year, the team hasn’t had any trouble motivating for big games, but now that they’re coming home, is there something they can do to keep up their quality of play?  Roy believes it’s just a matter of keeping it simple.  On the road, the team doesn’t try to force plays – they’ll just send the puck deep if there isn’t a good option.  They’re also a very offensive-minded club, which does lead to more turnovers, but they seem to be more cognizant and cautious of that kind of play while in other teams’ buildings.  Shifts also tend to get longer at home as guys want to keep pushing the play.  With any luck, changing their mindset will hopefully make the different between wining and losing by one goal.

Beauchemin Head Shot

Many fans wanted to know what Roy thought of Andrew Shaw‘s head shot to Francois Beauchemin last night.  The coach was highly displeased.  He didn’t think Shaw needed to jump up for the hit, and he mentioned how Landeskog was suspended for a hit to the head earlier this year.  Beauchemin is a very important part of the team, and contact like this late in the game is the last thing you want to see.

With that said, Roy talked with Beauchemin earlier today, and he seems to be doing just fine.  When any player gets hit to the head, there are protocols they have to pass.  He’ll do it again today, and that will let Roy know if he’s cleared to play for tomorrow.

Even if Shaw hadn’t jumped, Roy felt the hit still would have been charging.  When Landeskog got two games against Marchand, the team was not happy, but they understood it’s part of the league’s process to remove head shots.  However, if the NHL wants to eliminate them, they have to do something about it every time it happens.  Based on Shaw’s history and behavior after the hit, Roy believes he’s a player that loves that stuff.  Fortunately, the team kept their composure and smart about the situation, showing great discipline.  The coach was pleased with their response, even though he wasn’t very happy about the league’s.