John-Michael Liles had blood pouring from his left foot and hobbled badly in the Avalanche locker room following his first game back Tuesday night, after missing a month with a broken bone in the foot.
Nevertheless, Liles said he is ready to resume a regular role in the lineup. He might still be hurting, but the young defenseman wants to help his team any way he can.
“It’ll be OK,” said Liles, who played 14:12 in his return and was a minus-1. “It’s OK when I skate, and it felt good to play again, even though I couldn’t keep any pucks flat on my stick tonight.”
May back Thursday?
Avalanche winger Brad May likely will play his first game of the season Thursday against Atlanta.
May is taking full contact in practice – even practicing his fighting skills recently against Ian Laperriere – and should be cleared to play against the Thrashers. If May returns that night, the Avs will need to cut a player from the active roster, as they were at the NHL maximum 23 players entering Tuesday.
Footnotes
Antti Laaksonen, Mark Rycroft and Pierre Turgeon were the healthy scratches for Colorado. … Wojtek Wolski’s first-period goal was his 18th of the season, which temporarily tied him with Pittsburgh’s Jordan Staal for second highest among NHL rookies. Staal later scored his 19th Tuesday night. Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin leads all rookie goal-scorers.
