ATLANTA — The Avalanche has the NHL’s reigning ironman, Andrew Brunette, who is expected to play in his 442nd consecutive game tonight, more than five straight seasons worth of able-bodied play.
When Brunette looks around the Avalanche dressing room, however, he sees only one other player, Scott Hannan, who hasn’t missed a game this season. The team moved to Colorado in 1995, and never has it been beset by so many injuries.
“This has been one of those years,” Brunette said. “We’ve have a lot of injuries to deal with. But we’ve managed to stay afloat and we’ve got to keep doing that — because nobody is going to feel any pity for you in the NHL.”
Despite the onslaught, the Avs remain in the race for a playoff spot and are only one point behind Northwest Division leader Minnesota.
Brunette has missed only 12 games in his past nine NHL seasons. If he knew a secret for staying healthy he could tell teammates, he would. But the truth is, he could sprain an ankle just as easily as Ryan Smyth did this season — or get hit in the wrong place on the shoulder, the way Brett Clark was, ending his season.
“I’ve been fortunate,” Brunette said. “I think it’s just luck more than anything, really.”
Entering the game at Atlanta tonight, the Avs have missed 269 man-games because of injuries, ranking them among the most snakebitten teams in the league this season.
New guys fall victim, too
Peter Forsberg lasted only three games before getting bit by the Avalanche injury bug when he pulled a groin muscle Saturday. He missed Sunday’s game and his status for tonight’s contest is uncertain. Ruslan Salei, who hadn’t missed a game all season with Florida, was hurt seven games into his Avs stay, suffering an eye injury Sunday at Dallas that forced him to fly back to Denver. He will miss tonight’s game. Adam Foote, who had been a picture of health with Columbus, already has missed two games with a sore hip.
Then there was Paul Stastny. After a practice in which he felt fine, his appendix suddenly acted up and he needed an emergency procedure to remove it. When that injury healed, he pulled a groin muscle in one of his final practice tuneups and missed two more weeks.
“The whole thing was just frustration, because they just seemed to come out of nowhere,” Stastny said. “They weren’t huge injuries, but they just kept nagging and hanging around. You hate being hurt. There’s nothing you can do except do your rehab and then go home and sit around.”
“There was a year in L.A. when I played there that we had a lot (of injuries),” said Avs veteran Ian Laperriere, who had a knee injury this season. “But not one like this. We seem to get another new one or two every game or two.”
Rising to the challenge
The Avs have experienced other seasons when injuries were a constant problem. Not a single player played all 82 games in 1996-97, when Joe Sakic, Claude Lemieux and Forsberg missed significant stretches with injuries. The Avs still managed to win the Presidents’ Trophy.
The 2003-04 Avs — the team with Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne — rarely was at full health. Kariya was hurt half the season with wrist and ankle injuries, while Selanne suffered through his worst NHL season on a bum knee.
Avs coach Joel Quenneville seems inured from any shock at the latest man to go down. Anytime he is asked about injuries, Quenneville just shrugs and says something like: “We don’t feel sorry for ourselves. It’s part of the game, and you’ve got to deal with it.”
Avs defenseman Jeff Finger takes off a brace from his right knee after every game, the result of an injury a couple of years ago. After Sunday’s game at Dallas, he also unwrapped a large dressing encasing his left wrist, an injury that kept him out six games. Next to him, Kurt Sauer talked about the large portion of time he missed this season with whiplash.
“There’s not much more you can say than injuries are part of the game,” said Sauer, whose team recently lost Clark and Marek Svatos to season-ending injuries.
There’s no trend amid the carnage. Most of the Avs’ injuries have been of the wrong place, wrong time variety, such as Clark’s collision which dislocated his shoulder, or Smyth hitting the turnbuckle after a hard but clean hit from an opponent.
But Salei’s potentially serious eye injury in Sunday’s game was avoidable. He chose to fight a much bigger, experienced tough guy in Stars forward Steve Ott after Jordan Leopold had been injured on a hit by Ott. Now the Avs might be without one of their top defensemen for an extended period.
“He was coming to the aid of a teammate, so to us he did a great thing,” Sauer said. “Those kinds of injuries really don’t happen a lot in a fight. So, it was partly just some bad luck.”
The Avs are hoping that luck changes — and soon.
“Hopefully, we can get everybody on the roster now totally healthy going into the playoffs,” Finger said. “There’s nothing we can do but keep battling and fighting through all this adversity. We’re still winning some games lately with all the injuries, so there’s no reason why we can’t still.”
COLORADO AT ATLANTA
5 p.m. tonight, Altitude, KKFN 104.3 FM
Spotlight on Brad Larsen: Remember him? Some Avalanche fans, who don’t often get to see the Thrashers or other Eastern teams, might be surprised to learn Larsen still is an NHL regular with Atlanta. The hard-nosed winger followed former Avs and Thrashers coach Bob Hartley to Atlanta in 2004 and is still there.
NOTEBOOK
Avalanche: There was little new to report Monday on the team’s latest injuries. The Avs did not have an update on the condition of defenseman Ruslan Salei (eye), who flew back to Denver to be examined after suffering the injury in a fight Sunday. The status of forward Peter Forsberg (groin) for tonight’s game won’t be known until today. Forsberg probably will test himself at the morning skate, with a determination to follow on his fitness to play. Defenseman Adam Foote (hip) also is questionable for tonight. The Avs did not practice Monday.
Thrashers: It has been tough sledding of late for Atlanta, which has dropped out of the playoff race. Goalie Kari Lehtonen is 0-5-3 in his last eight starts, with a 4.03 goals-against average. . . . The Avs haven’t beaten the Thrashers since April 3, 2002 (a 6-0 win at the Pepsi Center). They haven’t beaten Atlanta on the road since March 6, 2001 (4-2).
Adrian Dater: 303-954-1360 or adater@denverpost.com
