It did not take long for the memories to come racing back. Capitals goalie Semyon Varlamov felt the adrenaline course through his veins as soon as he skated onto the ice for warm-ups during Saturday night’s home opener at Verizon Center.
It was just about five months ago that he was dropped into the postseason fire as Washington turned to the 21-year-old rookie in the middle of its Stanley Cup playoff run. The noise. The sea of red jerseys and t-shirts. It was a familiar scene for Varlamov, who was making his first start of the new season.
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Call it a good beginning with a shaky finish – but not all of the late struggles can fall on Varlamov, who finished with 27 saves on 31 Toronto shots. He held the Maple Leafs to one goal through two periods before they snuck three past him in the third period. The game was long since decided by that point. But that was little comfort to a young goalie trying to prove he’s ready to make last year’s dynamic playoff performance his regular level of play.
“Of course, we won so the team was happy to get two points. But I need to work a little bit more on my game,” Varlamov said through a translator. “The four goals I allowed is not good. It’s not good for my stats. I’m not very pleased with that so there’s some work to be done.”
Varlamov faced 10 shots in the first period. And while the Maple Leafs had a few quality chances, they couldn’t finish. Varlamov’s best save was on a rebound that bounced behind the net to Toronto forward John Mitchell waiting on the doorstep on other side. But the Russian exploded from right to left and got a pad in front to block the scoring chance.
In the second period, Lee Stempniak finished a series of creative criss-cross passes that got the Caps defense out of position. He beat Varlamov easily with a wrister from the slot. Early in the third period, Toronto forward Alexei Ponikarovsky scored an even-strength goal. Three minutes later, Washington failed to clear the defensive zone and a point shot was deflected up and over Varlamov’s shoulder to cut the lead to 6-3 at 5 minutes, 18 seconds.
“For the first two periods, [Varlamov] played great,” said Caps coach Bruce Boudreau. “When he had to make the big saves he made the big saves. I think the guys in front of him let him down a little bit in the third period.”
Boudreau has made it clear that his two goalies – Varlamov and veteran Jose Theodore – will split time through the first half of the season and whoever is playing well will begin to earn more starts. So did Varlamov feel the need to match Theodore’s solid 19-save showing on Thursday during a 4-1 win at Boston?
“No, I can’t say I feel any pressure,” Varlamov said. “The first game Jose played he won. The first game I played I won. So no pressure. We’re just both going to keep working.”
