The Colorado Avalanche ended the weekend battered and bruised. After an exciting comeback win on Saturday night, the Avs fell flat on Sunday against the Florida Panthers. The Cats played their usual stifling defensive style to keep Colorado’s offense at bay.
The biggest difference, however, was that the Avalanche were coming off a big win on Saturday night. As such, playing on back-to-back nights affected the club’s ability to break through the Panthers defensive style.
Despite the loss, the club lost much more than just a game on Sunday night. So, let’s take a closer in this edition of the Avalanche news.
Avalanche suffer road loss
A loss by the Avalanche wouldn’t be such big news. But it happened to come under various circumstances. First, the loss snapped the Avalanche’s 10-game winning streak. It was an uncharacteristically low-scoring game for Colorado, with Artturi Lehkonen getting the only goal.
The Avalanche hung tough the entire night, but just couldn't get past the Panthers’ defense and backup goalie Daniil Tarasov. It’s worth noting that Tarasov has been much better than most pundits give him credit for. Of course, it helps having a solid defensive team playing in front of him.
Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar went scoreless on the night.
Also, the game marked the Avalanche’s third regulation loss of the season. Three regulation losses in 41 games is a remarkable feat, seven OT/SO losses notwithstanding.
The Avalanche will have a day off on Monday before taking on the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night. That game will provide the club with a chance to start a new winning streak.
Injury update
The low point of the weekend was the losses of Devon Toews and Gabriel Landeskog.
In essence, both Toews and Landeskog are believed to “miss some time,” per coach Jared Bednar.
#Avs coach Jared Bednar said Gabe Landeskog and Devon Toews are both going to “miss some time.” Landeskog is still being evaluated.
— Corey Masisak (@cmasisak22) January 5, 2026
On Landeskog, Scott Wedgewood said “rib cage area” … Nathan MacKinnon said (paraphrasing) bones heal easier than ligaments/tendons.
That’s coachspeak for week-to-week. The most interesting situation surrounds Toews. He slid feet-first into the boards in the Carolina game on Saturday night. However, his injury is being called an “upper-body.” Perhaps his legs are fine, but he injured his shoulder while slamming into the board.
Meanwhile, Gabriel Landeskog’s injury has to be the most alarming one. As noted, it’s clearly an upper-body injury. However, the extent of the injury is unknown. Hopefully, it’s just a bad bruise and requires a few days to heal. Otherwise, broken ribs may leave the Avalanche captain sidelined for a few weeks.
More information should be forthcoming in the following days. Both players will likely undergo extensive testing in Colorado to determine the next steps.
Looking forward
This week looks like a “light” one for the Colorado Avalanche. They play the Lightning on Tuesday in Tampa Bay before returning home to play the Ottawa Senators on Thursday. The club closes out the week with a matchup against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday afternoon.
The relatively easy week will give the Avalanche’s wounded warriors a chance to relax. In particular, Scott Wedgewood will need some rest. The Avalanche goalie played ironman hockey this past weekend. He’ll likely get the call on Tuesday night as well. So, the question will be at what point does Trent Miner get a start while MacKenzie Blackwood remains out of the lineup.
In the meantime, the attention will be on Toews and Landeskog as we await further information.