Coach Jared Bednar said Monday morning that forward Brandon Saad sustained a lower-body injury Saturday in the Avalanche’s 5-3 loss to St. Louis and will be out 2-4 weeks.
Bednar didn’t elaborate. Saad, who has 24 points (15 goals, nine assists) in 44 games, logged 13:53 and had three shots on goal.
Here are the GAME NOTES for Monday night's game vs. the Blues.
Bednar said defenseman Jacob MacDonald didn’t accompany the team on this trip after sustaining a lower-body injury while working out during the COVID-19-related pause and is week to week.
Though he won’t be available Monday when the Avalanche complete their season series with the Blues, goalie Philipp Grubauer is with the team and doing cardio work off the ice. Bednar said he would be able to get on the ice Tuesday.
"He's doing cardio stuff, been working out off the ice for the last three days," Bednar said. "He can hit the ice tomorrow, which is why he's with us."
The Avalanche play in Vegas on Wednesday, then return home to play a two-game set with San Jose.
Forwards Mikko Rantanen and Joonas Donskoi were still on the NHL COVID-19 protocol list, but they are getting close to returning. Bednar said Rantanen would skate Tuesday and Donskoi on Thursday. Goalie Jonas Johansson will start Tuesday. He’s gone 3-0-1 with a 1.87 goals-against average, .929 save percentage and a shutout since his March 21 acquisition from Buffalo.
The Avalanche have two games in hand on first-place Vegas and third-place Minnesota, but the West Division race is tighter than ever. They trail the Golden Knights by four points and lead the Wild by one.
The lineup:
FORWARDS Gabriel Landeskog – Nathan MacKinnon – Andre Burakovsky Carl Soderberg – Tyson Jost – Valeri Nichushkin J.T. Compher – Nazem Kadri – Martin Kaut Liam O’Brien – Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – Keifer Sherwood
DEFENSE Devon Toews - Samuel Girard Ryan Graves - Cale Makar Patrik Nemeth - Conor Timmins
GOALIES Jonas Johansson Devan Dubnyk