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'Grubi' makes case for more work

March 10, 2019, 4:33 PM ET [2 Comments]
Rick Sadowski
Colorado Avalanche Blogger •Avalanche Insider • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Avalanche coach Jared Bednar has kept his New Year’s resolution to refrain from naming his starting goalie in advance.

We won’t know whether Semyon Varlamov or Philipp Grubauer will get the nod Monday against Carolina at the Pepsi Center until after the morning skate.

But Grubauer, who has been kind of a forgotten man in his first season in Colorado, is making a strong case for more work in the final 13 regular-season games.

Grubauer only had to make 18 saves Saturday in the Avalanche’s 3-0 win against Buffalo, but he’s tossed two shutouts in his past three starts, sandwiching them around a 2-1 loss March 3 in Anaheim when he made 21 saves. He had 38 saves Feb. 23 in a 5-0 win in Nashville.

"(It) could be possibly tough to take him out," Bednar said after the Avalanche's optional practice Sunday.

GRUBAUER’S SHUTOUT

“I think it’s keeping it simple,” Grubauer said. “You rely on (teammates) and they rely on you and you’re helping each other out, and it’s been working out the last couple games.”

Grubauer, 27, was pegged as the Avalanche’s goalie of the future after he was acquired last June from Washington for a second-round pick (No. 47) in the 2018 NHL draft. He subsequently signed a new three-year, $10 million contract.

But Varlamov, 30, who is in the final year of a five-year, $29.5 million contract, has played in 46 of the Avalanche’s first 69 games. He started 21 games in a 25-game stretch until Grubauer was given the net Saturday.

The Avalanche lost 18 of 23 games (5-15-3) between Dec. 8 and Feb. 5 when they allowed at least four goals 14 times; the goalies, not unfairly, absorbed most of the blame.

Varlamov and Grubauer have been much better recently while getting more defensive support. The Avalanche have gone 8-4-1 in the past 13 games with three shutouts; they’ve allowed a total of 27 goals in this stretch.

“They’ve given us a chance to win every night,” Bednar said. “If you look at our team’s record (recently), that’s one of the big reasons why it is what it is.”

Varlamov has gone 6-3-1 in his past 10 starts, stopping 307 of 330 shots for a .930 save percentage. Grubauer has turned aside 90 of 93 shots in his past five games (three starts), going 2-1-0 with a .968 save percentage.

“Early in the year we split them and things were going well,” Bednar said. “Things didn’t go so well for a stretch. There were opportunities for both guys. One guy’s out, we give a guy five, six starts in a row trying to get him to find a rhythm, and it didn’t work out in our favor in the middle portion of the season.

“We also went back and forth with guys, so we tried all kinds of different things and I didn’t feel like we had a guy seize the net and really perform well for us. Both goalies kind of had a slide in their game at the same time.

“Varly started to take over in the second or third portion of the season and he’s played well real, but now every start we’ve given Grubauer it’s been a real quality start for us. They’re both giving us a chance to win every night. That speaks to the record that our team has (recently).”

*****

NHL Player Safety tweeted that Sabres center Jack Eichel would have a hearing Sunday for his "Illegal Check to the Head" against the Avalanche's Carl Soderberg at 14:48 of the second period on Saturday.

Eichel was assessed a minor penalty. Soderberg was shaken but was able to continue.

*****

The Avalanche have three 30-goal scorers for the second time with Nathan MacKinnon (35), Gabriel Landeskog (33) and Mikko Rantanen (30).

They had four players with at least 30 goals in 1995-96: Joe Sakic (51), Claude Lemieux (39), Valeri Kamensky (38), and Peter Forsberg (30).



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