Avalanche superstar defenseman Cale Makar briefly left Sunday’s 4-0 loss in Buffalo with what looked like a lower-body injury. With Colorado on the power play, Makar was skating behind his goal to retrieve the puck and was shoved from behind by Sabres captain Kyle Okposo and collided awkwardly into the endboards. There was no penalty called on Okposo.
Makar stayed down until the whistle blew before needing to be helped to the dressing room. He returned in the third period and made several trips back to the dressing room the rest of the way. He finished the game with 21:58 of ice time.
Cale Makar has gone to the locker room after taking a hit and going into the boards awkwardly pic.twitter.com/qj1Qrz6sjs
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) October 29, 2023
At the time of the injury, the Avs were trailing 3-0 before eventually suffering their second straight shutout loss and surrendering four goals for the fourth game in a row. Superstar forward Nathan MacKinnon ended up getting penalized the following stoppage for mouthing off to the officials, likely for the missed call on the Makar hit. MacKinnon received two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct and a 10-minute misconduct. The Avalanche successfully killed off the ensuing Sabres power play.
Colorado is 6-2-0 through eight games despite playing just twice at Ball Arena. Five of the next six games will be at home where the Avs are 2-0-0.
The matchup at Buffalo was the first game against longtime Colorado defenseman Erik Johnson. The 35-year-old Stanley Cup champion was acquired in a blockbuster trade in 2011 and spent 12 years in Denver. He was the longest tenured Denver pro sports athlete at the time of his departure.