Remember when it felt like Semyon Varlamov might never play in the NHL again?

For nearly two years, that looked like a real possibility. Multiple knee surgeries and a long recovery kept the former Colorado Avalanche goaltender away from the game, and with every month that passed, a return seemed a little less likely.

Well, Varlamov is back.

The 38-year-old returned to regular-season action Tuesday night, helping the New York Islanders beat the Nashville Predators 4-3 in a shootout. After everything he’s gone through just to get back in the net, picking up a win in his first game back makes the night even sweeter.

And if you watched Varlamov during his eight seasons in Colorado, you know this is pretty cool to see.

Varlamov hadn’t played an NHL game since Nov. 29, 2024. Heading into training camp, Islanders general manager Mathieu Darche called his progress “almost a miracle,” although he was quick to point out how much work the veteran had put in to get to this point.

Now, he has another NHL win to his name.

The Islanders made things interesting Tuesday, to say the least. They built a 3-0 lead against Nashville before the Predators battled back to tie the game and force overtime. Varlamov stopped both shots he faced in the extra period, and New York eventually got the job done in the shootout, with Kyle Palmieri and Bo Horvat scoring.

Not exactly the stress-free return you might draw up, but a win is a win.

The victory was the 290th of Varlamov’s NHL career. It’s a pretty remarkable number considering how uncertain his future looked not that long ago.

If Varlamov’s comeback sounds familiar, there’s a good reason.

Avalanche fans watched Gabriel Landeskog go through his own incredibly difficult journey back to the ice after missing nearly three full seasons with a serious knee injury. Plenty of people wondered whether Colorado’s captain would ever play again. Then he finally made his return during the 2025-26 season.

Varlamov’s situation isn’t identical, but the uncertainty surrounding both players was hard to ignore. At some point, you start wondering whether the next update will be the one that confirms a career is over.

Thankfully, that wasn’t the case for either of them.

Varlamov spent eight seasons with Colorado from 2011-12 through 2018-19, playing 389 games and posting a .913 save percentage with a 2.79 goals-against average. He later moved on to the Islanders, but plenty of Avalanche fans will remember the years he spent holding down the crease in Denver.

He’s now played 621 NHL games in his career, with a .916 save percentage and 41 shutouts.

Tuesday also gave Islanders rookie defenseman Matthew Schaefer a place in the history books. He became the first player in NHL history to play the entire five-minute overtime period.

That’s quite a night for New York, but Varlamov’s return is what really stands out here.

At 38, after multiple knee surgeries and almost two years away from an NHL game, he could have called it a career. Instead, he kept working until he got another chance.

And now he’s back in the win column.

For those of us who remember watching Varlamov in an Avalanche uniform, it’s hard not to be happy for him.