CALGARY, Alberta — The Avalanche will have to make do without its captain for the next one to two weeks.
Defenseman Adam Foote is expected to be out that long with an ankle injury, suffered Saturday at Carolina. He was examined Monday by the Avs’ medical staff and the prognosis was made — retroactive to Saturday.
That technically means Foote could return by Colorado’s next game Saturday afternoon, but that isn’t likely.
The Avs played with six defensemen against the Flames and could get Brett Clark (cheekbone) back Saturday.
Koci back in.
Avalanche heavyweight enforcer David Koci returned to the lineup for the first time since Dec. 15, and wasted little time engaging in his specialty.
Koci had a long, blow-for- blow bout with Calgary’s Brian McGrattan just 3:42 into the contest. That was one of three fights in the game’s first four minutes.
Koci had been a healthy scratch since his last game, but he did have a New Year’s Eve scare on the team plane. After the Avs played Detroit that night, Koci choked on some food and, though he was able to breathe after the initial scare, he wound up in a Columbus, Ohio, hospital the next morning to undergo a procedure to dislodge the food that had remained stuck.
The Avs said he could have played that night against the Blue Jackets.
Footnotes.
Colorado came into the game with a 5-0 season record on Monday nights. . . . Rookie Brandon Yip started the game at left wing, on the second line with Matt Du- chene and Milan Hejduk. . . . Hejduk entered Monday without a goal in his previous six games. Wojtek Wolski also hadn’t had a point in his previous six.
Adrian Dater, The Denver Post
