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Injuries pile up for Avalanche - Chris Stewart breaks hand in fight

Chris Stewart

Colorado Avalanche right wing Chris Stewart (25) skates after the puck during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Minnesota Wild in Denver, Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010. (AP Photo/Barry Gutierrez)

AP

While the Colorado Avalanche were busy making Niklas Backstrom’s life miserable tonight beating the Wild 7-4, their struggles with injuries continued and if the team thought they were being tested before, they haven’t seen anything yet. Tonight, Avalanche power forward Chris Stewart broke his hand in a fight with Wild forward Kyle Brodziak late in the second period.

Stewart is second on the team with 25 points, a total that puts him in the NHL’s top 20 in scoring. Stewart and Milan Hejduk are the guys leading the way for the high-scoring Avs and losing a guy with the kind of scoring punch that Stewart provides is going to hurt, tonight’s outcome not withstanding. As for the fight, have a look for yourself.
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With Stewart out, the Avalanche injured list is unbelievable. Goalie Craig Anderson was just put on injured reserve today for the second time this year. The forward units are already without T.J. Galiardi and Peter Mueller and defensemen Adam Foote and Kyle Quincey have missed significant amounts of time this year while Kyle Cumiskey is still on IR. While they’ve gotten outstanding play from rookie Kevin Shattenkirk, the Avs are having to make due with inexperienced blue liners like Ryan Wilson and Jonas Holos, of whom Denver Post beat writer Adrian Dater isn’t convinced that Wilson should be playing at all.

The Avs have been able to employ the “bend don’t break” philosophy to how they’re playing with so many players absent, being able to maintain a high level of play for an extended amount of time is taxing on the team and the organizational depth. If the Avs can keep it up, Joe Sacco might want to ask for a raise for doing what he’s able to do with a team that’s continually playing with a fractured lineup.