The Colorado Avalanche lost their top-line forward to injury in the loss to the Edmonton Oilers.
The Colorado Avalanche suffered a disappointing loss to the Edmonton Oilers Friday night but more importantly, lost one of their best players to injury. Forward Mikko Rantanen took a high hit from Mattias Ekholm four minutes into the second period and did not return to the game.
Head coach Jared Bednar said the 27-year-old would undergo evaluation for "a while" following the 6-2 loss to the No. 2 Pacific Division team.
Rantanen played all 82 games last season and has only missed a total of 55 games in his career seven full seasons (536 possible games played). The only extensive period was in the 2019-20 season when he suffered a lower-body injury against the St. Louis Blues on Oct. 21 and did not return until Nov. 30.
The Nousiainen, Finland native has 102 points this season — his second consecutive 100-plus point season — and sits in the No. 6 spot among all NHL skaters. As of Saturday, he is tied for the No. 15 spot in the league with Pittsburgh Penguins forward Sidney Crosby in shots with 259.
The 6-foot-4 right wing trails Nathan MacKinnon in points and game-winning goals. He has one fewer power-play goals than Valeri Nichushkin and is a plus-20.
Rantanen has recorded 40 goals this season and is the sixth player in franchise history with multiple 40-goal seasons (he posted 55 goals last season). He joins Michel Goulet (7), Joe Sakic (5), Peter Stastny (4), MacKinnon (3) and Milan Hejduk (2) on the list of Quebec Nordiques/Avalanche players to achieve the milestone.
Bednar said after the loss that his first review of the hit looked to be unintentional from the 6-foot-5 Ekholm. An update on his status should be announced after morning skate on Sunday.