Articles in Colorado Avalanche

from Peter Baugh of The Athletic,

Avalanche star defenseman Cale Makar is back in concussion protocol after a collision with Blues forward Alexey Toropchenko on Saturday in St. Louis, leading to his absence Sunday in a home game against Edmonton, coach Jared Bednar confirmed Tuesday. Here’s what you need to know:

• Makar got hurt in his first game back after sustaining a head injury on Feb. 7 in Pittsburgh and was originally considered day to day with an upper-body injury, Colorado said. Against the Penguins, he took a Jeff Carter shoulder to the head but returned after passing concussion protocols. The next morning, he woke up feeling symptoms and missed the next four games.
• Against St. Louis, Makar and Toropchenko collided on an Avalanche power play. Toropchenko’s arm struck Makar’s face. The defenseman left the game initially but once again returned to play; Bednar said Tuesday that Makar once again had delayed concussion symptoms.
• Colorado does not play again until Friday in Winnipeg, then returns home to play the Flames on Saturday. Makar will miss the weekend’s games.

Each city has an independent spotter that pulls players who they believe might have suffered a concussion. The player then gets evaluated by the trainers and doctors. In the Pittsburgh game, the spotter pulled Makar to go through protocol.

But in St. Louis, the spotter did not pull Makar from the game, according to an Avalanche spokesman, despite the fact that the defenseman grabbed his face after the play. Makar told the Colorado Springs Gazette postgame that he “got kind of bruised on the nose, just because I think my visor hit it.”

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from Kyle Fredrickson of the Denver Gazette,

Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar will miss at least the next two games with a head injury stemming from an unpenalized collision with Penguins forward Jeff Carter.

Makar did not participate in morning skate Thursday ahead of a Stanley Cup rematch against Tampa Bay at Amalie Arena. Coach Jared Bednar said Makar has left the team’s current road trip and will not play against the Lightning or Saturday against the Panthers.

Makar, who crumbled to the ice Tuesday after Carter’s right shoulder brushed his head, returned to the game and spoke with reporters after passing concussion protocol. But Makar’s condition worsened in the following days.

“All (head injuries) are different,” Bednar said. “He passes a test, feels good, wants to go out back and play. Everything looks good as he gets evaluated during the game. But the next morning, he didn’t feel very well. He obviously hasn’t been on the ice in the last couple of days. So, we’ve got to give him some time.”

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Watch the hit below.

“How inspiring he is,” said the Stanley Cup champion MacKinnon. “It’s inspiring to see someone be that great. It makes you want to get better. That’s how I feel when I see him. It makes you want to strive for something.

“Greatness in any sport is special, for me, it’s awesome to see. It’s really cool. I know I won’t be as good as him no matter how hard I work but I appreciate what he’s doing and how he does it.”

-Nathan MacKinnon on Connor McDavid. Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun has more from other players on McDavid.

from Mark Kiszla of the Denver Post,

If the Avs can bury the hatchet with Ryan O’Reilly, they can raise the Stanley Cup together.

Yes, O’Reilly left Colorado in 2015, his relationship with the Avs broken by acrimonious bickering about money.

But eight years is enough.

All is forgiven, my wayward son.

Make a trade for O’Reilly and the Avs would not only have the second-line center they’ve been missing since Nazem Kadri left town, but there wouldn’t be a team in the Western Conference that could prevent Colorado from advancing to the Stanley Cup Final.

After sleep-walking through a championship hangover and slapping BandAids on a roster beset by injury, center Nathan MacKinnon sat in the Avalanche locker room looking forward to some R&R at the beach before reporting for all-star festivities in Sunrise, Fla.

“We’re just trying to weather the storm of injuries. We’re confident if we can get in (the playoffs), we’ll have a good chance,” MacKinnon said Saturday, after Colorado turned back a late push from St. Louis in a 4-2 victory.

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from Peter Baugh of The Athletic,\

“It kind of shows you who Cale is,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “Typical Cale.”

Late in the first period against the Islanders on Monday, Makar fell skating around the Colorado net. The referee raised his hand to call a tripping penalty on Mathew Barzal, who had been defending Makar.

But the Avalanche defenseman waved his hand at the referee. He had fallen on his own and didn’t want the penalty called.

“The ref who called it wasn’t the guy at center ice,” Makar said after Colorado’s 1-0 shootout win. “He was kind of behind the net on the far side. I don’t think he had a good angle on it. He just saw me fall. I would like to think most times I fall it’s usually because somebody trips me. That one I just lost an edge. I felt pretty guilty for the boys there.”

Added Barzal: “Obviously, good sportsmanship on his part. I don’t know if I would have done the same, to be honest with you.”

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from Adam Kimelman of the NHL,

Nathan MacKinnon will miss four weeks for the Colorado Avalanche because of an upper-body injury.

MacKinnon, a forward, left a 5-3 loss at the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday with 8:13 remaining in the first. He appeared to be in pain after taking a shot that was blocked by Flyers forward Scott Laughton moments before leaving the ice.

"[He's] a guy that plays 25 (minutes) a night and in every situation, so you have to juggle everything," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said after the game. "Do the best you can. You've just got to keep grinding and find guys that contribute. … Guys are going to have step up. It's going to be a challenge. It's been a challenge for us and seems to be getting worse at this point."...

Colorado is also missing forwards Valeri Nichushkin (ankle), Evan Rodrigues (lower body) and Shane Bowers (upper body), and defensemen Josh Manson (lower body), Bowen Byram (lower body) and Kurtis MacDermid (lower body).

Forwards Gabriel Landeskog (knee) and Darren Helm (hip) have yet to play this season after each had offseason surgery.

"[Helm and Nichushkin] both skated early again, and then first day joining the team," Bednar said Wednesday. "So looks like they're getting close. ... [Manson is] going to be out a month, too. (Rodrigues) skated today. First time. Three to four weeks is what we were thinking. Looks like he's on that timetable."

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There was no post-game update on the upper-body injury except he will fly back to Denver with the team.

He said I stuck my ass out,” I had nowhere to go with (teammate J.T. Compher) there. It’s happened now two or three times this year. It’s tough. Whose ice is that? That’s the real question. … You have a guy skating backwards in the neutral zone at you, and if I go forward, I go in the o-zone for an offside. … I guess I can go back, but I’ll probably just run right into (Compher).”

-Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche on an interference call against him. Watch the call below and the game highlights.

Peter Baugh of The Athletic has more ($).

from Bennett Durando of the Denver Post,

St. Louis goalie Jordan Binnington, still public enemy No. 1 in Colorado after last season’s second-round playoff series, lunged back in front of the net as Hunt tried to get off a shot in the third period of the Avalanche’s riveting 3-2 loss Monday night. Josh Leivo’s stick disrupted Hunt as he tried to turn and fire. Some 18,000 Ball Arena thought the game was tied, but Binnington recovered in time.

It was one of Binnington’s 44 saves, and ironically the best Avalanche opportunity in a frantic third period that ended with a 6-on-3 mad dash caused by two Blues penalties in the last two minutes.

“I felt like our intensity when the game was on the line and our attack mentality was probably better than it was at times during the game,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “But at the same time, I thought we created lots of chances. Enough chances to win.”

After Colorado (8-5-1) cleared the net to upgrade from 5-on-3 to 6-on-3 in the final minute, Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar missed the net. A four-game winning streak came to an end despite the kind of end-to-end action that usually favors the Avalanche.

It was also the kind of onslaught Colorado produced throughout last season’s six-game playoff win against St. Louis, a team that is currently trying to climb out of the division cellar after a startling eight-game losing streak. Now the rival Blues have won three in a row.

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Game highlights are below.

from Tracey Myers of NHL.com,

Peter McNab, color analyst for the Colorado Avalanche who played 14 NHL seasons as a forward, died Sunday. He was 70.

"The Altitude and KSE family are saddened to announce the passing of our friend, Peter McNab," Altitude TV, the regional sports network of the Avalanche, said in a tweet. "Our hearts go out to his family and friends, and the McNab family asks for privacy during this unimaginably difficult time."

McNab was diagnosed with cancer in August of 2021 but continued his analyst duties while undergoing chemotherapy treatments once every three weeks. Since he wasn't permitted to fly, he worked Colorado's road games from a local studio.

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from Adrian Dater of Colorado Hockey Now,

The Colorado Avalanche are going over to Finland all of next week to be good ambassadors for the game of hockey and, ostensibly, to enjoy themselves as reigning Stanley Cup champions. But there might just be a bag skate or two in the players’ near-term future after a total collapse against the New York Islanders in a game that seemed well in the bag before that.

Blowing a three-goal lead built through the first half of the hockey game, the Avalanche left the UBS Center as losers tonight. The final from Money-Makin’ Strong Island: Islanders 5, Colorado Avalanche 4.

Instead of a perfectly respectable 5-3-1 record heading to Finland, the Avalanche are the definition of mediocrity so far, at 4-4-1. It was already going to be a long plane ride to Helsinki tomorrow night. After this meltdown, the flight just got longer.

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Below, watch the Islanders score five consecutive goals.

“Sloppy. Poor execution. Really the whole night,” Bednar said. “So that’s why we didn’t get any shots. Tough to get shots when you can’t execute. Whether it’s decisions, execution: sloppy. Spent the whole night defending.”

-Jared Bednar, head coach of the Colorado Avalanche after a 3-2 home loss to the Seattle Kraken. Bennett Durando of the Denver Post has more.

Watch the game highlights below.

Just over two minutes to watch.

Longer version is below