Avalanches’ Nathan Mackinnon, Cale Makar Exit Game Against Senators
In this story:
Both Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar have left the game after sustaining injuries in the second period against the Ottawa Senators on Thursday.
Cale Makar was hurt earlier in the second period. The play that took place was pretty harmless, with no contact involved. Makar, in the offensive zone, came down the boards to retrieve the puck from Kadri, stopped hard, and seemed to maybe tweak something.
Later replays showed he was hunching over while the play was dead. He was already not 100%, as he was already dealing with some mysterious injury when he left practice a couple of days ago.
To add insult to injury, before the second period ended, MacKinnon was hurt as well. In a scuffle with Artum Zub, replays showed Zub shoving MacKinnon right around the waist and seemingly hitting some sort of nerve that caused MacKinnon to go down.
The Avs are without Nathan MacKinnon
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) November 13, 2026
and Cale Makar in the third.#NHL pic.twitter.com/8GWoSsiM1Q
He would head back to the bench after the play and take a shift, but after that one shift he would head back to the bench and later down the tunnel for the rest of the period, which has turned into out for the rest of the game.
Neither returned for the third period.
Avalanche to Be Tested Without Their Best
Time will obviously tell with the severity of these injuries and if they are serious, but if push comes to shove and they end up missing some time, it could be bad already with what the Avalanche are dealing with.
Currently on a road trip right now, they still have to play the Montreal Canadiens and the Utah Mammoth. An important matchup against a hot Canadiens team and a major divisional matchup against the Mammoth.
With the Avs already missing Josh Manson as well on the back end, it will seem that both Noah Juulsen and Alex Gagne will be called up to the lineup, with another call-up on the way to round out the roster.
Add us as a preferred source on Google
Stefano Rubino is a sports journalist based outside Toronto, Canada, and a hockey writer covering multiple teams for The Hockey News, as well as the Colorado Avalanche and Detroit Red Wings for Sports Illustrated. When he is not watching last night's highlights or minor league games, or writing game notes, you can find him listening to music while he works out or playing video games.