Colorado Avalanche Quarter Season Review: Above .500 Hockey

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN - NOVEMBER 10: Nathan MacKinnon
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN - NOVEMBER 10: Nathan MacKinnon
4 of 7
colorado avalanche
PHILADELPHIA, PA – NOVEMBER 04: Semyon Varlamov

Goal Tending

More from Mile High Sticking

The Colorado Avalanche have a decent goal tending tandem in Semyon Varlamov and Jonathan Bernier. Varlamov is the number-one with Bernier being a summer acquisition as backup.

In 12 games, Varlamov has a 7-4-1 record — he was the goalie in net when the Ottawa Senators beat the Avalanche in overtime. That said, he was also the goalie in net who prevented the Philadelphia Flyers from winning in the shootout by stopping two of the three shootout attempts he faced.

Varlamov has a .903 save percentage, which is decent. His 3.23 goals against average isn’t fabulous. However, this is a goalie who continues to face in the neighborhood of 33 shots a game.

The front offices and coaching staff don’t want Varlamov to play more than 50 games this season. Therefore, they’ve developed a rotation that has seen backup Jonathan Bernier already get seven starts. He has a 3-4-0 record, which isn’t fantastic. However, he was the goalie on the ice for the Detroit overtime, and he made important saves that let Colorado go on to win.

Bernier’s save percentage isn’t great, .886. His goals against average is only a little worse than Varlamov’s at 3.59. He faces an average of 27 shots per game.

In the wings, the Colorado Avalanche also have Spencer Martin and Joe Cannata, with the latter playing mostly with the Colorado Eagles right now thanks to the weird sharing of the San Antonio Rampage with the St. Louis Blues.

They also have Andrew Hammond under contract as part of the Matt Duchene trade, but he’s been kept with the Ottawa Senators’ AHL affiliate. It’s understood Colorado would like to trade him, likely for a draft pick. However, the Rampage roster is also full thanks to that dual sharing.

Though Cannata traveled with the team to Sweden as emergency backup during the Global Series Games, it’s understood that Martin is the first call-up for goal tending.