Latest Avs injury would be the biggest yet, MacKinnon exits in Philadelphia

***This story has been updated below***

The Avalanche are doing the opposite of getting healthy.

They’re getting more injured.

And what happened on Monday night in Philadelphia would be the biggest one yet, as superstar Nathan MacKinnon had to leave the game against the Flyers. It’s unclear where exactly on his body MacKinnon is ailing, but he was in obvious pain. He left the game in the first period and was not spotted on the bench to start the second.

Here's the footage Altitude showed pertaining to Nathan MacKinnon's injury#GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/azomltxUgw

— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights (@HockeyDaily365) December 6, 2022

The Avalanche told Kyle Frederickson of The Denver Gazette that Mackinnon is being “evaluated.” Hockey clubs are notoriously tight-lipped when it comes to injuries, so we should expect very little news about what happened or how he’s doing.

In the meantime, Colorado is losing to Philly, 3-1 and on the verge of a 1-3 road trip. But that will all be secondary, as MacKinnon marks injury No. 11 this year. That’s an insane number, and includes critical players like Gabriel Landeskog, Valeri Nichushkin, Evan Rodrigues, Bo Byram, Josh Manson and Artturi Lehkonen.

We’ll keep you posted.

(Update: 6:51 p.m.) –

The Avalanche have ruled MacKinnon out for the evening. Head coach Jared Bednar will be asked about the injury postgame, but it’s unlikely he knows or says more.

Nathan MacKinnon has left the game with an upper body injury and will not return.

— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) December 6, 2022

The next news should come on Wednesday morning, before the Avs host the Bruins at Ball Arena that night.

***

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