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The Colorado Avalanche lost 5-2 to the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday night — and they also lost one of their most important players. Ross Colton, who has been breaking out to the tune of a team-leading eight goals in 10 games in 2024-25, will be out of the lineup for the foreseeable future after blocking a shot in the second period.
“He's out. He took that shot [to the leg],” Avs head coach Jared Bednar told reporters afterwards. “He's going to miss some time, but we'll get a better feel on how long, how much time that's going to be, tomorrow or by Wednesday morning.”
Colton left the arena in a walking boot. The 28-year-old has thrived in an expanded role with the club this season; he's second in the NHL with eight goals, and currently sits fifth on the team in scoring.
The Avalanche are already riddled with injuries up front, and have been without the services of Gabriel Landeskog, Valeri Nichushkin, Artturi Lehkonen and Jonathan Drouin all season. Adding another name to that list is discouraging for the shorthanded roster.
Despite the injury woes, Colorado has been on a tear as of late, winning five games in a row before Monday's disappointing defeat.
Avalanche back on track despite Monday's loss
After beginning the campaign with four straight losses — and allowing 25 goals against — the Avalanche have turned things on over the past week and a half. Colorado beat Anaheim, San Jose, Seattle, Utah and Ottawa, improving to 5-4-0.
But they're back to .500 after failing to beat the Blackhawks at home in the second night of a back-to-back at Ball Arena. And Bednar was not too pleased with the team's effort on Monday.
“We were no good again. We weren't as good as last night, even,” said the bench boss, per NHL.com's Ryan Goulding. “We just looked tired. Execution was bad, mentally not sharp. So, it happens. Looked like we didn't have energy, though, right from the drop of the puck. We're not looking at moral victories here right now. It wasn't our best game. Needed to be better and it wasn't. It's two in a row.”
“I think we made it harder on ourselves than we should have, especially like in the first period,” echoed forward Logan O’Connor, per Goulding. “I felt like we were turning tons of pucks over in the middle of the ice. Couldn't get in on the forecheck, which is sort of the staple of our game right now with the lineup we have.”
Now sitting at 5-5, the Avalanche are in a logjam in the middle of the Central Division. They're six points behind the Winnipeg Jets, who suffered their first loss of the season on Monday.
Colorado will host the Tampa Bay Lightning at Ball Arena in a 2022 Stanley Cup Final rematch on Wednesday night before heading to Nashville to play the Predators on Saturday.
