DENVER — Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar will miss Game 2 of the Western Conference finals against the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday.
Avalanche coach Jared Bednar told reporters after the morning skate that the two-time Norris Trophy winner would be out for a second consecutive game. Makar missed Game 1 with an upper-body injury.
Makar has been listed as day-to-day but was still skating while being out of the lineup. He did drills Wednesday prior to Game 1 and was also skating Thursday at the team’s facility.
Makar was also on the ice more than 30 minutes before the Avs’ optional morning skate doing forechecking, movement, passing, positioning, receiving, shooting and skating drills. He left the ice and returned to the dressing room 10 minutes before the skate in which a large portion of the team participated.
Makar came back from the dressing room and was also on the ice for the optional skate.
Getting Makar back at some point would mean that the Avs have their top defensive pairing fully restored as he’d be alongside Devon Toews for the first time since the series-clinching Game 5 win against the Minnesota Wild. It would also allow the Avs to have their primary quarterback return to their first-team power-play unit.
Makar initially left Game 5 holding his right arm following a collision but returned as the Avs won in overtime after erasing a 3-0 deficit. Makar also left Game 1 against the Wild after he took a hit along the boards as his right leg flew into the air before he hit the ice.
Bednar said after the Avalanche’s 4-2 loss in Game 1 of the conferences finals that there was “a trickle-down effect” without Makar while also noting that the team needed to find a way in his absence.
Makar being sidelined meant Bednar had to rely heavily on defensemen Toews, Brett Kulak, Sam Malinski, Josh Manson and Brent Burns, who is the oldest active player in the NHL this season. Four of those five logged more than 19 minutes, with Burns receiving less than 17 minutes and Jack Ahcan held to less than eight minutes of ice time.
Bednar declined to go into specifics about his defensive options ahead of Game 2 as the Avalanche seek to even the series before it shifts to Las Vegas for Games 3 and 4.
“I think the guys that we had playing tonight, not just the D, were capable of more and capable of better,” Bednar said after Game 1. “It just wasn’t there for us tonight.”
