The injury bug continues to strike the Avalanche

Nathan MacKinnon and possibly Sam Girard face setbacks

The Colorado Avalanche cannot get the injury bug away from them.

Star forward Nathan MacKinnon had missed practice on Tuesday and Wednesday. Initially, the press and fans were hopeful that it was simply just a maintenance day for him.

After practice Wednesday morning, Jared Bednar told the press that MacKinnon would be out for “give-or-take” three weeks with a lower body injury. He suffered this injury Saturday against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

MacKinnon did struggle late on in the game and came out of it not looking like himself. Ultimately, we now know why but don’t know how he got said injury.

Late on in Wednesday’s practice too, Sam Girard left practice himself which at the time of this publishing, his status is unknown. Again, more than ever, resources are getting depleted and the Avs may need to rely on a call up from the Colorado Eagles. Keep an eye out for that in the coming hours.

With the two possible injuries, Kurtis MacDermid will probably enter the lineup once again. Whether he is on the fourth line or on the third defensive pairing will be seen Thursday before their game against the Vancouver Canucks.

The struggle continues as the Avs have yet to have a game with a fully healthy squad. At this point, who knows if they will play a game fully healthy at this rate. Jokes aside, the 4-5-1 Avalanche really have their work cut out for them in this tame November.

The depth of the Avalanche, if not tested already, will be tested once again. If they can become a well-oiled machine in this low-key month for the Avs, they should hopefully recover and ready for a busy December.

In the meantime, these were the lines run by the Avalanche at practice on Wednesday. We should expect to see something similar to this when the Avs hit the ice on Thursday.