The Colorado Avalanche entered their game on Wednesday night in fairly dire need of a victory.
They remain deeply entrenched in the Western Conference Wild Card race, but recent inconsistencies - and a few other teams out west heating up at just the wrong time - have left them on the outside looking in, sorely in need of a few more two-point games in their favor to finally seal the deal.
It was the worst possible time, therefore, for Semyon Varlamov to wind up ill before the game - but although he was unable to win an eventual crease battle, Andrew Hammond stood tall to keep the team in a game they just couldn’t find a way to score in.