Avalanche must look within after latest injury, MacKinnon says

TORONTO --Nathan MacKinnon says there have been times this season when the Colorado Avalanche expected outside aid that would never arrive.

Not anymore.
Instead, faced with the prospect of heading down the stretch run in a bid for a Stanley Cup Playoff berth without injured forwards Artturi Lehkonen and
Gabriel Landeskog
, the defending champions understand that the only ingredients for a repeat will come from within their own dressing room.
Mackinnon said the Avalanche held a couple of team meetings earlier this season with a simple message: It's time to wake up.
"Yeah, you get into a lull," the forward said Tuesday. "And you know, I think we were waiting for help a little bit, and it wasn't coming.
"It's good experience. It's not coming now either. We have no one really coming back soon, so it's up to us to have everyone elevate their game a little bit."
That, in fact, will be Colorado's mantra starting with its game against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET; TNT, SN, SN1, TVAS, SN NOW). It will be the first game for the Avalanche since Lehkonen broke a finger in the second period of an 8-4 victory at the Montreal Canadiens on Monday, a game in which he had three points (two goals, one assist) prior to the injury.
The 27-year-old, who has career highs in goals (20), assists (29) and points (49) in 62 games this season, flew back to Denver on Tuesday and is scheduled to have surgery Wednesday. The expectation is that
he'll be out 4-6 weeks
, although coach Jared Bednar said they'll have a better idea once the surgeon examines him.
Landeskog is skating after undergoing a knee procedure in October, but Bednar said there remains no timetable for his return. The Avalanche captain and top-six forward has missed all of Colorado's 65 games this season.
Landeskog has 571 points (248 goals, 323 assists) in 738 NHL regular-season games, and 67 points (27 goals, 40 assists) in 69 playoff games.
"No clarity," Bednar said. "He's just making progress. Slow and steady. He looks better. Feels better. Still not there yet. So, he's going to keep grinding to get back as soon as he can.
"I don't know when that will be. I don't know if that will be the regular season or [the] postseason. It's all going to be up to him when he gives us the OK, but he's making progress both on the ice and off the ice."
In the meantime, the Avalanche realize none of the other 31 teams in the NHL have any sympathy for them. Despite the reminders some of them saw of their 2022 championship at the Hockey Hall of Fame during a visit there Tuesday, none of that matters this season.
MacKinnon, who leads Colorado with 81 points (29 goals, 52 assists) in 54 games, said entering a season coming off a Stanley Cup title has been a learning experience for the entire team. When asked if three-time Cup winner Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins had any advice to that end, he said the only suggestion passed along by his good friend and fellow native of Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, was to keep grinding.
"In training camp, the Cup's around, and then you have your ring ceremony and you're kind of living in the previous year a little bit," MacKinnon said. "You know, once you go through it, you never really know how you'll react and it's tough …
"It just kind of feels like you've got to earn it again. It's gone now, so I think that's how we all feel. It's over with, and we've got to move on."
There is no shortage of talent to do so. Cale Makar, the Norris Trophy winner last season as the NHL's top defenseman, said he feels relatively healthy again after missing 13 games with various injuries, including concussion symptoms. Forward Mikko Rantanen, who has an NHL career-high 43 goals, said the likes of he, Makar and MacKinnon will take it upon themselves to carry even more of the load in the absence of Lehkonen and Landeskog.
The Avalanche are also without forward Darren Helm, defensemen Erik Johnson, Josh Manson and Kurtis MacDermid, and goalie Pavel Francouz. Each has a lower-body injury.
"When guys start dropping, other guys have to start elevating their game, and on the forward side the responsibility falls to me and 'Nate,'" Rantanen said.
Despite the injuries, MacKinnon said other Western Conference teams should be wary of the Avalanche if they reach the postseason as expected. Colorado (37-22-6) is third in the Central Division with 17 regular-season games remaining, four points behind the second-place Minnesota Wild and seven points behind the first-place Dallas Stars.
"I think we're just trying to get in," he said. "We feel comfortable playing anybody.
"I'm sure no one wants to see us in the first round if we get a wild card spot. Hopefully, we get some guys back by then."