About 90 minutes before the Avalanche's 2-1 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks at the Pepsi Center on Tuesday night, the news broke about the Denver District Court jury's verdict in the lawsuit against Colorado goaltender Semyon Varlamov brought by his former girlfriend.
Pending a possible appeal, the $126,000 award to Varlamov at least brought short-term closure and seemed to guarantee that the Russian goaltender will step back into the Colorado crease soon.
Although it wasn't a criminal case, but a civil suit, if the verdict had gone differently, there was the possibility that the NHL would be under pressure to react with supplementary discipline.