If the Colorado Avalanche are to temporarily slow the surging Winnipeg Jets, they might need to do so without one of the NHL’s top players.
It’s uncertain if injured star defenseman Cale Makar will be available when the visiting Avalanche try to keep the Jets from a fifth straight victory in a playoff rematch Thursday night.
Colorado snapped a three-game losing streak with Tuesday’s 6-3 home victory over Seattle. Nathan MacKinnon notched five assists, Mikko Rantanen had two goals and Makar added two assists for the Avalanche, who broke out after scoring twice in each of their last three contests.
However, Makar exited in the second period with an undisclosed injury.
“He tweaked something late in the second. He wasn’t able to continue,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said.
The Denver Post reported Wednesday that Bednar said Makar is feeling “OK” and may play Thursday.
Losing Makar, who entered play Wednesday second in the league with 23 points (five goals, 18 assists), two behind MacKinnon, would be a serious blow for a team that is off to an underachieving 6-7-0 start. Depending on the duration of any absence for Makar, more big games from the fellow stars MacKinnon and Rantanen will be key.
Like Makar, MacKinnon has at least one point in each of the Avalanche’s first 13 games. Rantanen, a 100-plus point scorer each of the last two seasons, however, had just one point in the three games prior to Tuesday.
Getting contributions from secondary scorers like Ivan Ivan and Chris Wagner, who each had a goal Tuesday, are also important, especially if the team is without Makar for a while.
“As much as we do rely on our top guys, and you need them to lead the way offensively, you need other guys to chip in,” Bednar said.
That all will be imperative against the Jets, the NHL’s top team amid its franchise-best 12-1-0 start. Since losing 6-4 to Toronto at home on Oct. 28, Winnipeg owns a 22-8 goal advantage during a four-game winning streak.
Nino Niederreiter scored twice and Connor Hellebuyck (9-1-0, 2.10 goals-against average) made 21 saves during Tuesday’s 3-0 home victory over the Utah Hockey Club.
“The best part about (the strong start) right now is that we keep finding ways to win hockey games,” said Niederreiter, whose seven goals have come over the last nine games.
“We are finding the back of the net right now, which is great. It is something that we work very hard for. We know we can’t take anything for granted.”
Like last season, when the Jets won all three regular-season games against the Avalanche before losing their first-round playoff series to Colorado in five games.
Including the playoffs, MacKinnon had three goals with 10 assists versus Winnipeg last season.
Kyle Connor (nine goals, 10 assists), whose franchise-record 12-game point streak to open the season for the Jets ended Tuesday, had five goals and four assists in seven overall games versus Colorado in 2023-24.
Justus Annunen (2.64 goals-against average) could make his third straight start for the Avs after stopping 17 of 20 shots from the Kraken on Tuesday to improve to 5-2-0 as a starter.
–Field Level Media