The Colorado Avalanche won a fun game on Tuesday night, taking down former Avalanche goaltender Philipp Grubauer and the Seattle Kraken by a final score of 6-3. Mikko Rantanen, in hopes of a new contract extension soon, recorded two goals, while Nathan MacKinnon contributed with five assists on the night.
Cale Makar finished with five shots on goal and two assists, but he only played 15:07 in the entire game. To put that into perspective, he is averaging ice time of 23:58 on the season (including this past game into that math). Now, all eyes are on Makar as we await word on an injury that forced Makar out of the game prematurely.
#GoAvsGo coach Jared Bednar said Cale Makar “tweaked” something in the second period. pic.twitter.com/4yXUkQeMrk
— Colleen Flynn (@CHNFlynn) November 6, 2024
The Avalanche just cannot enjoy wins very long, can they? The status of Makar is likely on the minds of everyone on the team’s roster and staff. He’s 1a or 1b in terms of importance on the Colorado Avalanche roster. He brings so much offensive talent to the team, especially for a defenseman. A two-way player that is impossible to replace with a single player.
The Avalanche just cannot catch a break with all of these injuries. Gabriel Landeskog. Jonathan Drouin. Arturri Lehkonen (he played last night for the first time this season), Ross Colton (broken foot). It’s just ridiculous at this point how much this team has been dealt a bad hand in terms of players missing time because of injury.
When watching MacKinnon and Makar in basically every game, you might notice that the two seem to have tremendous chemistry with each other. They are the heartbeats of this team and they show it by their communication on and off the ice. They know that they have a lot of weight on their shoulders but are willing to take that pressure and make it known that it is not a big deal. That is what they were made for.
Of course, the success of the Colorado Avalanche cannot rely just on those two players. It has got to be a team effort all around. Like I’ve said in the past, the Avalanche need to learn to win without Makar. They’ve done so in the past, but it remains to be seen if they can do it in the long run.
Hopefully, we don’t have to see that happen.