Avalanche center Matt Duchene is expected to miss approximately four weeks because of a medial collateral ligament sprain his left knee. He was injured on his first shift in a collision with linemate Jamie McGinn in Saturday's 3-2 win against San Jose.
So Duchene will miss the final eight regular-season games and probably the first-round playoff series that is scheduled to begin April 16 or 17.
"We've been finding ways to win since the start of the year," coach Patrick Roy said after practice Monday. "We'll continue to find ways to win."
Rookie Nathan MacKinnon will slide into Duchene's spot at center on a line with Ryan O'Reilly and McGinn starting Tuesday in Columbus. Paul Stastny will center a line with Gabriel Landeskog and John Mitchell.
Landeskog rested and didn't practice Monday, but Roy said he would play against the Blue Jackets.
"Just to give us different options," Roy said of the top two line combinations. "You cannot just go 'bang' in the playoffs and try that. It's good to try different things. Our situation in the standings allows us to do this. It's important for us to continue that way."
Here are some tweets from Duchene:
100 pts & playoff bound is something all of us have been working towards for a long time. Something to be majorly proud of #AvsNation !
— Matt Duchene (@Matt9Duchene) March 31, 2014Secondly, the thought of not playing in the first round for me has been devastating. We have outstanding medical and training staff that...
— Matt Duchene (@Matt9Duchene) March 31, 2014
...will be helping me get healthy ASAP. I will be doing everything in my power to be ready for Game 1... And if not then, shortly after!
— Matt Duchene (@Matt9Duchene) March 31, 2014The Avalanche clinched its first playoff appearance since 2009-10 with Saturday's win and has a one-point lead (100-99) over Chicago for second place in the Central Division with two games in hand on the Blackhawks. The teams will most likely meet in the first round, with the second-place team earning home-ice advantage.
Roy said right wing PA Parenteau, who sustained a sprained MCL in his right knee in a March 10 game against Winnipeg, might be available for the April 13 regular-season finale at Anaheim and should be back for the first-round series.
"We hope that he could play the last game of the season in Anaheim," Roy said. "If not, we're pretty confident he will be back for the first (playoff) game."
Roy addressed the players before and after practice, saying the loss of Duchene can't be used as an excuse, that he was "proud" of them for what they've accomplished up to this point and that it's no time to feel satisfied.
"We want to have home-ice advantage," he related to media members."We're in that battle right now."
As he did Saturday, Roy pointed out that the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup in 2001 after center Peter Forsberg was lost to a spleen injury.
"When we're talking about changing the culture of our team, this is one thing," he said. "We're a team, and that's the way it was in 2001; it was about the team. Peter was a very important player on that team, don't get me wrong. But our culture was we had to work hard every time we were on the ice. We had to find ways to win hockey games. That's what this team has been doing all year. This is what we're talking about when you're talking about a team changing their culture. We're not looking for an excuse; we're looking for a solution.
"We're also looking for an opportunity for other guys. Now it's Nate who has an opportunity to play with Ryan and Jamie. Lucky for us, Mitchie came back for San Jose (after missing four games with a back injury). We have depth and a lot of confidence in our players. Our players have a lot of confidence in themselves. It's a team concept, it's how we've been winning our games. It's not going to change."
*****
McGinn feels awful about being part of the play in which Duchene was injured, not that it was either player's fault.
"We were both trying to get out of the way," he said of the collision. "Just one of those freak plays. We were both going for the puck. Freak accident. I can't really comment too much on it. It's one of those freak accidents in hockey.
"I talked to him, texted him to make sure, just to stay positive. He's going to get through it and he's going to be hopefully ready to go for playoffs. We'll see what happens. We just have to stay positive and continue to work hard. All year, guys have stepped up and done a great job and dealt with it a lot. A lot of injuries this year. We just stay positive and work hard. Good things will happen."
*****
MacKinnon, who leads all NHL rookies in scoring with 23 goals and 33 assists, will return to his natural center position with O'Reilly and McGinn after spending a good portion of the year at right wing.
"I played with both those guys in the past," he said. "I'm not going to try to replace Dutchie; you can't. He's been one of our best players all year. It's not about replacing Dutchie. I'm just going to try to help the team win and hopefully create some chemistry with those two guys. We have so many good players and we're very deep. If there is pressure, I don't feel it. Keep playing the same way as all year and hopefully it works out."
Said O'Reilly: "It's frustrating with all the injuries we've had. I've been playing with (Duchene) all year. He's really helped me with success, been working well together. We'll obviously miss him, our key player. It's going to hurt us. I think we do have a deep team and other guys can step up and help contribute. We have to come together. Everyone is going to have to do whatever they can to get ready for these playoffs and work together."
The fact that so many of the Avalanche's forwards can play different positions, and have played with different linemates because of injuries, should be helpful.
"Fortunately, we have a lot of centers and wingers who can play different positions and it helps out a lot," Stastny said. "Patty's got different combinations where he can put different guys. We've had four, five or six guys hurt, whether it's for an extended amount of games or a shorter time, and you just have to deal with it.
"Patty's done a good job of not letting us be down about it, not worrying about who's not playing and just doing the best we can to keep winning. We have eight games left and we want to keep getting better and we want to peak at the right time. We don't want to end the season on a slide."