Before its five-day bye period begins Saturday, the downtrodden Avalanche has one more game to get out of the way — Friday night’s meeting with the New York Islanders at the Pepsi Center.
Although Semyon Varlamov has recovered enough from his groin muscle issues to suit up and serve as the backup, Calvin Pickard will get his seventh consecutive start in the net for the Avalanche, which also will bring in losing streaks of five games overall and 10 games at home.
“Best case scenario for (Varlamov) is that he still gets another six days of work and rest and then gets back in the net,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said after the morning skate.