The Avalanche forward was injured in Game 6 of the Western Conference First Round on Friday when he was hit from behind by Seattle Kraken forward Jordan Eberle at 17:44 of the second period. Eberle received a minor for boarding, and Cogliano came back for the third period and finished the game.
Colorado and Seattle play Game 7 of the best-of-7 series at Ball Arena on Sunday (9:30 p.m. ET; TNT, SN, TVAS, ALT, ROOT-NW).
"Tough guy to miss, on the ice, off the ice," Avalanche forward J.T. Compher said. "What an animal, eh? He comes back in that game. But not surprised at all. We love him. We love everything he brings on the ice, off the ice, as a guy, so we'll miss him. But obviously he left it all out there for us, and we're going to try to do the same for him tonight."
RELATED: [Complete Avalanche vs. Kraken series coverage]
Coach Jared Bednar said Cogliano was cleared by the Avalanche medical staff in Game 6.
"He got looked at by the docs in the room and went through a bunch of tests and felt OK," Bednar said. "They put him through what they needed to do to make sure that he was OK. He wanted to go back in, and they felt like it was OK for him to go back in."
Bednar said after the Avalanche returned to Denver on Saturday, Cogliano's neck "wasn't feeling great," so he went for a CT scan, which showed the fracture. He said Cogliano will have a follow-up MRI on Sunday to "make sure nothing else shows up."
He called the hit a bad decision Eberle, even if the injury was unintentional.
"I don't like the hit," Bednar said. "From 5 years old, you're wearing stop signs on your back on every jersey. I mean, it's numbers the whole way. He doesn't really ease off him."
Eberle said he was trying to battle for the puck, and the play happened fast. He and Cogliano were teammates with the Edmonton Oilers in 2010-11.
"I was happy to see him back in the third, and obviously (when) you hear he's hurt the next day, it's tough," Eberle said. "But for me, it's just trying to play hockey, and I think everybody knows the way I play. I'm obviously never trying to hurt somebody."
Cogliano was part of the Avalanche's Stanley Cup team last season.
The 35-year-old has no points in four games in this series but is a key part of the Colorado penalty kill. He has 35 points (13 goals, 22 assists) in 120 Stanley Cup Playoff games.
