Colorado Avalanche Star Matt Duchene Out Indefinitely: When It Rains, It Pours

Alright, to those fans out there that asked the question, "what else can go wrong?"

Will you please not ask that anymore? 

After being re-evaluated this morning, coach Joe Sacco announced that leading scorer Matt Duchene would be out indefinitely with a hand injury that he suffered towards the end of the second period in Monday's game against Calgary.

Duchene is currently the team's leading scorer with 47 points and goal scorer with 21 goals. It's no secret that many Avalanche fans were looking towards Duchene for help as Colorado attempts to salvage a once promising season.

To replace Duchene, the Avalanche have called up Mark Olver from Lake Erie, who will center a line with Milan Hejduk and Kevin Porter. Olver started off the year with the Avs before being sent back down to Lake Erie, where he had performed very well, tallying 21 goals and 15 assists in 52 games with the Avalanche AHL affiliate.

Duchene's injury is just the latest in a string of injuries that has plagued the Avalanche all season long. The Avs have lost 280 man games to injury this year, which is the most in the Western Conference. 

On Monday, after the bad news that Peter Forsberg had decided to hang up the skates for good, the Avalanche laid a giant egg on home ice and were destroyed by the Calgary Flames by a score that none of us wish to be reminded of. 

It can only be hoped that this latest bad news won't inspire a performance similar to Monday night's, as the Avs have a date with the Pittsburgh Penguins, who are also suffering from several injuries.

The Penguins are without two of the biggest stars in the game today, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

With the way things are going for both of these teams right now, let's keep the ambulance parked right off the ice, just in case.