LOS ANGELES — Avalanche superstar Nathan MacKinnon suffered a lower-body injury in the second period of Monday’s 3-1 loss against the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center.
Colorado was trailing 2-0 at the time of the injury and MacKinnon — who leads the team and is fourth in the NHL with 93 points — did not return. Avs coach Jared Bednar said after the game he wasn’t sure of the severity of the injury.
“He leaves the game, I’m concerned right away. I have no idea (of the severity),” Bednar said in his postgame news conference. “I know he wasn’t good enough to come back in the game tonight. So, yeah, there’s some concern.”
The injury-depleted Avs, who were completing a three-game Pacific Coast trip at L.A., were already without forwards Mikko Rantanen (shoulder area), Nazem Kadri (leg), Andre Burakovsky (lower body) and Matt Calvert (lower body), plus defenseman Cale Makar (upper body) and goalie Philipp Grubauer (lower body). Rantanen, Calvert and Grubauer each went down Feb. 15 against the Kings at the Air Force Academy.
Los Angeles, which has a Western Conference-low 62 points, built a 2-0 lead from fortunate bounces that Austin Wagner and Mikey Anderson turned into goals. Wagner scored on a rebound off MacKinnon’s chest and Avs defenseman Kevin Connauton inadvertently redirected Anderson’s shot into the net with his stick.
Colorado was in a position to tie St. Louis for the Central Division/Western Conference lead but started flat in the second game of a consecutive-night stretch. The Avs mustered just four shots in the first period and trailed 2-0 after the first 20 minutes. They got better as the game went on and came within 2-1 early in the third period on Pierre-Edouard Bellemare’s fluky goal — a weak shot that bounced awkwardly in front of Kings goalie Jonathan Quick.
The Avs (41-20-8, 90 points) pressed for the equalizer but couldn’t deliver it before Alex Iafallo made it 3-1 by beating goalie Pavel Franvouz with a backhander atop the crease.
The Blues (41-19-10, 92 points) lost Monday 2-1 at home to the Florida Panthers. St. Louis has 12 remaining games, the Avs 13.
“We would have liked to win this one, but … it’s a game of inches, a game of bounces one way or the other and tonight we didn’t get them,” Avs captain Gabe Landeskog said.
Regarding MacKinnon’s injury, Landeskog said: “It (stinks) seeing a teammate go down. It doesn’t matter who it is. It (stinks). I’m not going to stand here and give you guys an injury report. I haven’t even seen the guy. I’m sure he’s fine.”
MacKinnon, who many consider a Hart Trophy favorite as league MVP, is among three Avs to have played in all 69 games this season. Winger Matt Nieto and defenseman Sam Girard are the others.
Beginning Monday, the Avalanche closed its locker room to nonessential personnel indefinitely because or coronavirus concerns. And the ban began at the same time Santa Clara County banned all large gatherings, including Sharks games at SAP Center — where the Avs won 4-3 Sunday night. The Santa Clara County ban begins Wednesday for a three-week period.
Footnotes: The Avs recalled rookie forward Martin Kaut from the minors Monday on an emergency loan because they weren’t sure Vladislav Namestnikov could play. Both took warmup and Namestnikov felt good enough to play and Kaut was scratched. Forward Sheldon Dries also was scratched and Colorado went with 11 forwards and seven defensemen, with regular blue-liner Mark Barberio playing forward. … The Avs return home and begin a four-game homestand Wednesday against the New York Rangers.
