The Colorado Avalanche are in a unique quantum state. They are both out of the NHL playoffs and on track to pull off a miraculous comeback.
We won’t know which one is the true situation until the final buzzer of Game 4 on Tuesday night. That said, one notable analyst, former NHL goaltender Martin Biron, believes that there’s one particular situation on which the Avalanche’s comeback depends.
During an appearance on TSN’s Jay Onrait on SC, Biron made it clear that the Avalanche need their top stars to step up during this critical situation.
"“If you are going to come back from 3-0, you’re going to need MacKinnon at 100%, you’re going to need Makar at 100%. Very, very dire situation right for the Colorado Avalanche.”"
How dire of a situation is being down 3-0 in the WCF for the Avalanche? #TSNHockey analyst @MartyBiron43 joins @JayOnrait to discuss. pic.twitter.com/OPtGz846Oq
— JayOnSC (@JayOnSC) May 25, 2026
Indeed, Biron is right. The Avalanche are in a position where they need their top stars to finally break through and take over the game. But with Makar evidently less than full strength, and MacKinnon’s status now questionable, it seems that Colorado is a tough spot, to say the least.
Can the Avalanche pull it off without MacKinnon and Makar at full strength?
Yes, we’ve seen stars play through awful injuries and produce unbelievable efforts. But is it likely to expect something like that?
That’s the question. The Golden Knights have taken advantage of injuries on the Avalanche side. That we know of, several Colorado players are going through something. Josh Manson has been in and out of the lineup. Sam Malinski missed a couple of games. Brent Burns has taken time off to recover. Valeri Nichushkin looks questionable. MacKinnon, Makar, and potentially other guys like Gabriel Landeskog and Brock Nelson might be dealing with something we don’t know about.
The fact is that despite the time off in between series, the Avalanche could be much more banged up than we thought. That has nothing to do with the playoffs themselves. That’s something that could go back to before the Olympics.
The Golden Knights figured it out. They didn’t need the CIA or MI6 to spy on Colorado. Vegas intuited that Colorado might be much more banged up than we all thought.
All of that is out the window now. The Avalanche have only one more game to think about. That’s Tuesday night. If they force a Game 5, same thing. Only one game to think about until the Avs either go home or go to the Stanley Cup Final.
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