In a season that has been plagued by injuries, the Colorado Avalanche have lost another key piece for the stretch drive after forward Artturi Lehkonen broke his finger in the team's 8-4 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Monday night.
“It'll be 4-6 weeks. Maybe more. It's a huge loss,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said after the game, confirming to Altitude Sports Radio's Vic Lombardi that he broke his finger during the contest.
“Good thing is it's his finger. It's his top hand and he can continue to train.”
Lehkonen has been excellent for the Avalanche as of late; he set the tone on Monday with two goals and an assist before the brutal injury break.
Lehkonen was playing against his former team in the Habs, a team he helped reach the Stanley Cup final in 2020 after scoring the overtime winner in Game 6 of the Conference Final against the Vegas Golden Knights.
The 27-year-old was honored by the Canadiens faithful at the Bell Centre with a pre-game tribute video prior to puck drop.
The Avalanche have already been without Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Valeri Nichushkin and captain Gabriel Landeskog for long stretches of the season, and will now likely be without a top-six staple until the 2023 postseason.
The Finland native has tallied 20 goals and 29 assists in 62 appearances during the 2022-23 campaign.
The Colorado Avalanche currently sit in third place in the Central Division, but are just one point up on the Winnipeg Jets with two games in hand for the third and final divisional playoff berth.
If the postseason started today, the Avalanche would play rival Minnesota Wild in the first round, and they'd have to do it without one of their key pieces in Artturi Lehkonen.
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