"Usually, injuries happen because of hard hits from the opposition, but the Avalanche lost one of its best players Sunday night from a collision with a teammate.

Veteran right wing Milan Hejduk was forced out early in the first period from Game 3 with San Jose after skating into Paul Stastny, coming over the Sharks' blue line on the power play. The Avs called it an "upper body" injury, but it seemed clear that Hejduk's injury was to the head.

In the cloak-and-dagger world of injury information in the playoffs, Hej- duk's status can only be described as "unknown" for Game 4 on Tuesday night.

Hall of Fame.

The way this series schedule worked out, the Avalanche and Sharks will play Game 4 at the Pepsi Center on the same night former Colorado center and captain Joe Sakic is inducted into the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame at the annual banquet in the Denver City Center Marriott.

The other inductees are former Broncos coach Mike Shanahan, sportscaster Larry Zimmer, two-time NCAA champion wrestler Dean Lahr of CU, former Northern Colorado football coach Bob Blasi and Cherry Creek High baseball coach Marc Johnson. Johnson also coached Avalanche general manager Greg Sherman in high school, and Sherman considers the coach one of his mentors."