MacKinnon week-to-week with lower-body injury

Colorado Avalanche superstar Nathan MacKinnon is week-to-week with a lower-body injury, head coach Jared Bednar said Tuesday, according to The Athletic's Peter Baugh.

MacKinnon left Sunday's loss to the Minnesota Wild after playing the first two periods. It's unclear when he suffered the injury.

The 25-year-old ranks third in the NHL with 12 assists and is tied for third with 14 points in 10 games. He finished second in Hart Trophy voting last season and was the runner-up in 2018.

The Avalanche are dealing with a slew of injuries, much as they did in 2019-20. Bednar said Tuesday that forwards Matt Calvert and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, defensemen Erik Johnson and Devon Toews, and goaltender Pavel Francouz are all week-to-week as well.

MacKinnon played all but one of Colorado's 70 games last season, racking up 35 goals and 58 assists. His linemates, Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog, missed 16 and 28 contests, respectively, and netminder Philipp Grubauer was limited to 36 games.

The Avalanche are tied with the St. Louis Blues for first in the West Division, though the Blues have a game in hand.