While the Oilers pulled away with a 6-4 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday evening, it wasn’t all good news.

Coach Ken Hitchcock revealed after the game that blueliner Oscar Klefbom will be out for an extended period of time with a hand injury.

Klefbom was forced to leave the game during the second period after blocking a Sven Andrighetto slap shot with his hand. He left briefly before returning a few minutes later. The Oilers later announced the blueliner wouldn’t return to the contest.

Klefbom logged 10:36 of ice time prior to exiting the game for the final time.

The injury couldn’t come at a worse time for the 25-year-old. Klefbom has been playing his best hockey of the season of late, logging a whopping 28:03 of ice time in Sunday’s win over Calgary and racking up three goals and seven points in the last seven contests.

Klefbom is on the top pairing, plays both special teams and leads all Oilers’ defenseman in scoring with 15 points in 31 games. There will be no easy way of replacing him.

The Oilers return to action on Thursday against the Winnipeg Jets.