Semyon Varlamov Semyon Aleksandrovich Varlamov ( , born April 27 , 1988 ) is a Russian professional ice hockey goaltender who currently plays for the Colorado Avalanche of the Nhl . He was drafted in the first round , 23rd overall by the Washington Capitals in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft . Playing career . Varlamov grew up in Kuybyshev , developing his skills under the VVS hockey program . Before learning to properly skate , he began playing in net at the age of eight , preferring the goalie stick to the inferior bandy sticks that mite - level players were using at the time . The young netminder moved to Yaroslavl in his early teens and quickly established himself as the club ’ s dominant 1988 - born goalie . During the 2004 – 05 season , Varlamov made his debut on Lokomotiv ’ s junior farm club , Lokomotiv - 2 , playing as backup to Ivan Kaustin in the 1st League ( Russia 3 ) . During the summer of 2005 , Kasutin was loaned to Penza , effectively making Varlamov the starting goalie for the 2005 – 06 season . In 2008 , he helped lead Lokomotiv Yaroslavl to the Russian Super League finals . After having been drafted by the Washington Capitals 23rd overall in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft , Varlamov was signed by the Capitals to a three year , entry - level contract on July 11 , 2007 . He came to North America for the 2008 – 09 season and played , for the most part , with the Capitals ' minor league affiliate , the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League ( AHL ) . Varlamov was called up , however , on several occasions during the season and played his first NHL game on December 13 , 2008 , against the Montreal Canadiens . Making 32 saves , he won his debut 2 - 1 and was named the first star of the game . His home debut in Washington came five days later on December 18 against the St . Louis Blues , where he made 29 saves on 31 shots and was named the second star of the game in a 4 - 2 Capitals win . After regular Capitals backup Brent Johnson was sidelined with a hip injury in February 2009 , Varlamov assumed the backup position behind José Théodore . He went 4 - 0 - 1 with a 2 . 37 goals against average and . 918 save percentage in 6 games with the Capitals , while also going 19 - 7 - 1 in 27 games with the Bears in the AHL . During the first round of the 2009 playoffs against the New York Rangers , Varlamov was given the starting job after Théodore allowed 4 goals to lose game one . He subsequently made his NHL playoff debut on April 18 , 2009 , losing the second game of the series 1 – 0 . He went on to win game three 4 – 0 on April 20 , recording his first career NHL shutout . On April 24 , game five of the series , Varlamov achieved his second shutout by the same score , 4 – 0 . He won the next two games 5 – 3 and 2 – 1 , respectively , to help the Washington Capitals advance to the second round of the playoffs for the first time since 1998 . In game 1 of the second round against the Pittsburgh Penguins , Varlamov made a spectacular save on Sidney Crosby that NHL pundits have dubbed " the save of the playoffs . " In game 7 of that series , after allowing 4 early goals , he was pulled in favor of deposed starter José Théodore . Varlamov was sent down to the Hershey Bears of the AHL by the Washington Capitals on December 29 , 2009 to begin his rehab starts . International play . Varlamov was a backup for Russia during the 2005 IIHF World U18 Championships , where they finished fifth . He then earned the backup position over Lokomotiv - 2 teammate Ivan Kaustin for Russia at the 2006 World Junior Championships as a seventeen - year - old . Backing up Anton Khudobin , Varlamov did not see much ice time , skating only in a game against Latvia , allowing one goal in a 3 – 1 round robin win . He earned a silver medal with Russia as they were defeated 5 – 0 in the final by Canada . Later that year , Varlamov established himself as the starting netminder for Russia ' s under - 18 squad at the 2006 IIHF World U18 Championships and finished in fifth place . He began the 2007 Super Series as Russia ' s starter at the under - 20 level , but was later pulled in the series in favour of Sergei Bobrovsky . He regained the starting position at the 2007 World Junior Championships and recorded a 1 . 51 GAA ( second among tournament goalies to Carey Price of Canada ) along with 2 shutouts . Russia was , however , defeated by Canada for the second consecutive year in the gold medal game to earn another silver medal . Varlamov was selected to represent Russia for the 2010 Olympic Games . He will be the youngest man on the team by two years . Name pronunciation . When Varlamov first started playing for the Capitals , his name was most often pronounced " VAR - la - mov . " However , Varlamov has since corrected journalists and the Capitals television team , who mentioned it often during game 4 of the 2009 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals . The correct pronunciation is " var - LA - mov , " similar to the syllable emphasis of the last name of San Jose Sharks netminder Evgeni Nabokov . On August 5 , 2009 , Varlamov registered a change of spelling of his first name with the NHL , " for the upcoming season and foreseeable future , " from the incorrect " Simeon " to " Semyon . " In the Russian alphabet , Varlamov ' s first name is spelled " Семён . " The Russian letter ( ë ) , equates to the sound ( yo ) in English . Other transliterated variations in use include Semen ( as it is written in the NHL 09 video game ) , Semyen , Simyan , Simyon , etc .