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The Colorado Avalanche are battling the Dallas Stars for the top spot in the Central Division with just two games remaining in the regular season, and they'll have versatile forward Artturi Lehkonen back in the lineup for the final push.
Lehkonen will return from a fractured finger when the Avs host the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday night, according to NHL.com.
“He is in the lineup tonight,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar confirmed.
Lehkonen missed 15 games after getting surgery to repair the broken finger, sustained during an 8-4 win against the Montreal Canadiens on Mar. 13.
It's a massive boost for an Avalanche team that is without superstar Cale Makar, reliable blueliner Josh Manson or captain Gabriel Landeskog, who has not played a game this season.
The 27-year-old Artturi Lehkonen is tied for third on the Avalanche with 20 goals and fifth in points with 49 in just 62 games; both are a career-high for the two-way Finnish forward.
They'll be in for a stiff test against the Jets on Thursday, a team that just locked up the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
“The thing is, when you get a team that’s playing loose and you got a bunch of young guys coming in, they’re going to play hard,” Bednar said, according to Evan Rawal of Colorado Hockey Now. “They’re hungry. They want to show something. They’re going to be a competitive team tonight. So, you’ve got to be ready to play and you’ve got to be ready to play hard.”
If the Avs win their last two games and get some help, they could be seeing a lot more of the Winnipeg Jets next week.
Manson has been out for 21 games since re-aggravating a lower-body injury on Mar. 1, but he could be ready for the postseason next week.
That's also the case for Makar, who will travel with the team for their regular season finale against the Nashville Predators, which is also a great sign he will at the least be available for Game 1 next week.
The Colorado Avalanche are getting healthy just in time to make a run at back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2023.
