VANCOUVER, British Columbia — When T.J. Galiardi went down, he thought for sure his ankle was broken again. It wasn’t, but the Avalanche still said Galiardi might miss six weeks with a severe sprain.
Friday night, Galiardi completed his return in three weeks.
“I guess I’m lucky, healing fast,” Galiardi said. “We have some unbelievable trainers and they helped me get back earlier, and I’m just excited about it.”
The Avs missed Galiardi’s defensive presence, especially on the penalty kill. And he’s one of the Avs’ better forwards at grinding with the puck along the corners in the offensive zone.
Also returning to the Avs lineup was defenseman John-Michael Liles. He wasted little time making his return felt, assisting on Matt Duchene’s power-play goal in the first period.
No suspension.
The Edmonton Oilers wanted one, but didn’t get a suspension against Avs rookie defenseman Ryan Wilson for his hit on Oilers captain Ethan Moreau on Wednesday night.
The NHL declined to suspend Wilson, whose hit gave Moreau a possible concussion.
Footnotes.
Entering Friday’s game, the Avs led the NHL in blocked shots with 397. Colorado finished second last season with 1,317. Defenseman Brett Clark was tied with Pittsburgh’s Jay McKee for most blocks (69). . . . T.J. Hensick and Tom Preissing were the healthy scratches for the Avs. . . . Canucks star Daniel Sedin (broken foot) did not play Friday night against Colorado but is likely to return Sunday against Chicago. . . . Entering the game, the Avs had only three players with plus-minus numbers in the negative: Matt Duchene (-6), Marek Svatos (-10) and Preissing (-5).
Adrian Dater, The Denver Post
