Could the Avalanche's 8-2 loss in Edmonton on Thursday night been any worse?
Coach Patrick Roy said after the game that defenseman Jan Hejda will return to Denver on Friday to have his right knee/leg examined by team physician Andrew Parker.
Hejda, the Avalanche's best defenseman, was injured in the first period when he fell awkwardly going for the puck and crashed into the boards. He was in obvious pain while holding his right knee when goalie Semyon Varlamov and trainer Matt Sokolowski came over to assist.
"Right now it's difficult to say (how serious the injury is)," Roy said. "I haven't talked to Matt, but we'll see more, I guess, tomorrow or the next day. The plan is to send him back to Denver and we'll see. Dr. Parker will meet with Jan and we'll have more details. Right now I cannot give you more details than that."
Hejda played 3:49 before he was hurt and is averaging 22:10 in ice time through 26 games. He has three goals, six assists and a plus-17 plus/minus figure.
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As I pointed out in an earlier posting, the Oilers always seem to give the Avalanche fits, and Thursday night was no different.
Varlamov gave up all eight goals on 28 shots while the Oilers' Devan Dubnyk stopped 33 of 35 shots to run his career record against Colorado to 8-3-1.
Taylor Hall led the rout with a hat trick and an assist. Mark Arcobello, Jordan Eberle, Ales Hemsky and David Perron each chipped in a goal and an assist. Ryan Smyth had three assists.
"We knew before the game that it's a team that will be very dangerous if we exchange chances with them and if they go on the rush, this is their game," Roy said. "We just played into their game, that's all, and we need to learn from it."
The Oilers easily won the battle of special teams. They went 3-for-7 on power plays and killed all six of the Avalanche's power plays, including a five-on-three advantage. The Avalanche power play has gone 0-for-15 in the past five games and is in a 2-for-22 slump in the past eight.
The entire Avalanche team was awful defensively and defenseman Nate Guenin (minus-4) had an especially rough game. Somehow defenseman Erik Johnson was plus-2; he was on the ice for one Oilers goal, and it was scored on a power play.
Roy said he never considered pulling Varlamov, and not only because Jean-Sebastien Giguere already was scheduled to start Friday night in Calgary.
"I don't think it was his fault," Roy said of Varlamov. "I could have pulled him after the fourth goal. I thought it would have been so unfair. They scored (on) two breakaways, a two-on-one situation, a power play (with) a perfect shot. To bring Jiggy in, I think it would have been unfair to him as well. He's scheduled to play tomorrow. Going in cold, (if) he hurts his groin, we're not in a better position.
"To be honest with you, Varly has nothing to blame himself tonight. They were perfect shots. They've got skills, let's give it to them. They made some nice shots."