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Wednesday, March 3, 1999
Injury shelves Theo
Fleury out indefinitely after hurting knee in Avalanche debut
Well, if it makes you feel any better, now Fleury's hurtin', too.
The day after marking his Avalanche debut with a goal comes news that the Calgary Flames all-time leading scorer, now the centre of mushrooming controversy here, is out of the Colorado lineup indefinitely after suffering a sprained right knee in the latter stages of the 4-3 loss to Edmonton on Monday at McNichols Arena.
Nothing appeared amiss with Fleury in the Avs' dressing room following the Oiler game.
"I went behind the net to hit (Janne) Niinimaa in the third period, bounced off the boards and my skate got caught in a rut,'' said Fleury yesterday from Miami, where the Avalanche face the Florida Panthers tonight.
"I felt it tweak but it seemed to be OK. I was so full of adrenaline then that maybe I just didn't notice. Then I woke up this morning and it had swollen up pretty good.''
Fleury was whisked to hospital for a MRI on the knee and the results showed an aggravated sprain. The good news is the MRI didn't reveal a tear.
"No, there's really no time-table when I might be back,'' he admitted. "It's pretty sore right now.''
Ironically, the one body to arrive in Calgary from the deal, Rene Corbet, is also out of action. He arrived with a hamstring pull.
"It obviously frustrating and disappointing,'' said Fleury. "I thought for a first game it went pretty well. And in the third period, with Joe (Sakic) and Peter (Forsberg), we really had things going.
"But what can you do? I just hope I'm not out too long.''
Fleury made quite an impression in his Colorado debut, especially when teamed with Forsberg and Sakic. The Avs stormed back from a 4-0 deficit and very nearly wound up stealing back a point, losing 4-3.
"Those three guys were pretty impressive together,'' said coach Bob Hartley following the game.
"I thought Theo did a great job adjusting to Peter and Joe. We sat down with Theo and explained what we expected of him. His responsibilities are really very similar to what they were in Calgary."
Said Sakic: "With a guy like Theo, someone who sees the ice so well, it doesn't take long to adapt. I don't think you'll see the three of us --me and Peter and Theo -- together all the time.''
Well, for the time being, we won't see them together at all.