Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon will be out three weeks after suffering a lower-body injury Saturday against Columbus, according to coach Jared Bednar.
It’s been a tough year for MacKinnon so far. He missed the first two games of the season while sitting out in the COVID-19 protocol, and will miss more because of the injury.
He is tied for the team lead in points with 10, but has only one goal in eight games and is skating to a minus-3 rating.
Since the team usually goes as MacKinnon goes, his underwhelming start has shown in the standings. The Avalanche, easily among the favorites to win the Stanley Cup when the season began, are just 4-5-1 with nine points headed into their game Thursday vs. the Canucks.