Avalanche dominate Montreal, but unfortunately suffer another big injury

Even in an 8-4 win over the Canadiens, the Avalanche won’t be happy.

Maybe they just can’t have nice things this season.

Making his return to Montreal, a place where he skated for six seasons, Avs forward Artturi Lehkonen scored two goals. And then he broke his finger. You can’t make this stuff up, as Colorado head coach Jared Bednar delivered the bad news after the victory.

Artturi Lehkonen has a broken finger. He will return to Denver for surgery.

— Peter Baugh (@Peter_Baugh) March 14, 2023

There wasn’t a timetable delivered on how long Lehkonen will be out, but this could seriously affect his season and potential playoff availability. “Lehky” was huge for the Avs in the Stanley Cup playoffs last year after being acquired at the trade deadline, and was having another solid season after signing a contract extension last summer.

In 62 games, including Monday night, he scored 20 goals and dished out 29 assists. His 49 points were fourth on the Avalanche.

It’s a huge blow to a team that’s already missing captain Gabriel Landeskog, defensemen Erik Johnson and Josh Manson, forward Darren Helm, backup goalie Pavel Francouz and has also suffered a slew of other injuries to key players throughout the year.

Like they’ve done all season, the Avs will have to find a way to make up for another big absence, but there’s only so much they can overcome. Repeating as champions just took another unfortunate detour.

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