As if the Avalanche weren’t already in a heap of trouble, they’ll be without captain and third-leading scorer Gabriel Landeskog for the remainder of the regular season and likely for the first round of the playoffs, if they qualify.

Coach Jared Bednar said after practice Friday that Landeskog will miss 4-6 weeks with an upper-body injury, joining forward Matt Nieto (leg injury) on the injured list for that long.

Asked how the Avalanche would make up for Landeskog’s absence, Bednar said:

“You don’t, you don’t. It’s a huge loss for our team. That’s the second forward we’ve lost for the remainder of the season, the regular season. Both guys are impact guys for us, Nieto and now Landy.”

Landeskog was injured in the third period Thursday during the Avalanche’s 4-0 loss in Dallas.
He had his right arm on his stick, stretching while going for the puck behind the Dallas net when goalie Ben Bishop -- he’s 6-feet-7, 215 pounds -- backed into him along the end boards.

"I think he gets caught reaching,” Bednar said. “He just gets caught in a real bad spot. Landy is going for the puck, (Bishop) is stepping out to play it, and he kind of shields himself with his back. It must have just hit him wrong. I don't think it was hard, it just kind of catches him in a bad spot."

Landeskog has set career highs for goals (33) and points (69) in 68 games, but the Avalanche also will miss his leadership on and off the ice. He has 10 power-play goals and nine game winners.

“He’s our captain, a key player and a key leader,” Mikko Rantanen said. “It’s time for other guys to step up. To fill Landy’s spot, we can’t, but we can’t feel sorry for ourselves now. We can’t look back anymore, it’s done, so we just have to move forward.”

Bednar said Derick Brassard, who was acquired from Florida at the NHL trade deadline on Feb. 25, would take Landeskog’s place on the top line with Nathan MacKinnon on Saturday afternoon against Buffalo at the Pepsi Center. Brassard has two goals in six games since the trade, 12 goals and 21 points in 56 games overall.

J.T. Compher was the right wing on the line at practice Friday.

“You have to try and find some combinations that give you some success and also a little bit of depth,” Bednar said. “You lose your top line left winger and we lose a middle six winger that does a lot of things for us in Nieto. Every time we miss a guy, you’re looking for other guys that can possibly step in and do that job or you have to rearrange things.

“That’s what we’re going to try. We’re going to try and rearrange some things and see if we can’t find some magic with guys split up on different lines and see if guys can elevate their game.”

Rantanen was on the second line Friday with Colin Wilson and Carl Soderberg.

“It’s a big loss,” Rantanen said of Landeskog, “but we can’t look back anymore. It’s happened, and now a lot of guys have to fill some spots and take bigger roles. There’s guys that can do that and we’re going to go with what we have.”

There was some good news for the Avalanche: defenseman Nikita Zadorov practiced Friday and will play Saturday after missing one game with an upper-body injury. Colorado has gone 1-8-3 when the 6-5, 230-pound Zadorov hasn’t played.

“That is the silver lining, no question,” Bednar said. “We didn’t know exactly how long he was going to be out when we left for the road. We know what our record is with him in the lineup, we know what he brings. You get in a game like Dallas last night, you miss him. They started to push us physically and we didn’t really respond. You get a guy like ‘Z’ in the lineup, he can push back a little bit in some of those instances.”

Zadorov was injured Tuesday against Detroit when he fell hard along the boards in the third period. He eventually returned but didn’t practice Wednesday and stayed home Thursday.

“Everything’s fine,” Zadorov said. “I felt like I could’ve helped my team last night. The good thing is we still got 14 games left. We’re all going to leave everything out there. My job is to make sure players hate playing against me, that’s the goal. That’s what I’m trying to bring every day.”

These were the lines at practice Friday (Bednar wouldn’t say whether Semyon Varlamov or Philipp Grubauer will start in goal):

Derick Brassard -- Nathan MacKinnon – J.T. Compher
Colin Wilson -- Carl Soderberg – Mikko Rantanen
Alexander Kerfoot -- Tyson Jost -- Matt Calvert
Gabriel Bourque -- Sheldon Dries -- Sven Andrighetto/Andrew Agozzino



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