Colorado was back on the ice tonight, but this time they played host to the St. Louis Blues. Despite having many of their star players in the lineup, including Matt Duchene, Paul Stastny, and starting goaltender Semyon Varlamov, the Blues were still too much to handle. Since it wasn’t a televised game I’m not going to write a full recap, but here is what went down.

The Blues held on to a one goal lead through two periods after Evgeny Grabchev scored in the first period, and then they went up by two on an Adam Cracknell goal 5:02 into the third. Tyson Barrie recorded his third point in two games with his goal at 12:48, but the Blues would regain the two goal lead when David Backes found the back of the empty net after Peter Mueller turned the puck over in the neutral zone trying to make one too many moves with the puck. The Avs managed to pull within one when Paul Stastny found a rebound in front of Stars net-minder Jake Allen, but the game would end 3-2.

Now some notes I gathered from listening to the game. The Avs were back to their old selves and seemed to continuously miss the net with their shots. Everything seemed a bit sloppy tonight, but I guess that is to be expected in the preseason. Again similar to last year the Avs came to life in the third period and recorded 10 shots, the most of any period. It’s also when they scored both goals in the game. Unfortunately for the Avs and fans there was another similarity between tonight and last season. Injuries.

Brandon Yip | Zimbio.com

 

It was announced that Jan Hejda will miss two to four weeks with a knee injury. Hejda was signed in the off-season and did not play in either one of the preseason games thus far. He was apparently injured Tuesday night during the Burgundy and White game. The bad news doesn’t stop there. Brandon Yip left the ice in the second period after taking a shot off his forearm. He went straight to the locker room and when he didn’t return for the third period it was obvious something had happened. It turns out Yip actually broke his forearm and as of now is listed as out indefinitely, but the timetable for his return is somewhere around six weeks.

Hejda was expected to be on the opening roster, but the future wasn’t clear for Yip. With guys like Brad Malone and Joakim Lindstrom making a name for themselves in camp many have speculated that Yip would be sent to Lake Erie to start the season. With both players being injured it opens up two spots for prospects looking to make a name for themselves.

Who do you think will fill in for these injures Avs? Leave a comment below.