Avalanche star forward Nathan MacKinnon didn’t play in Colorado’s Friday road game against the Los Angeles Kings due to a lower-body injury, the team announced as clubs hit the ice for warmups.

MacKinnon, who leads the Avalanche with 65 points (20 goals, 45 assists) and is the center on their top line that also includes Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog, was held pointless and posted a minus-2 rating in more than 20 minutes of ice time in Colorado’s 3-2 road loss to the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday.

MacKinnon was named the West Division First Star of the Month for April, having a hand in more than half of Colorado’s goals during the month (21 of 40), topping all players in the division with 21 points (9-12-21) in 13 games.

The Avalanche have a plethora of players sidelined due to injury or COVID-19 protocol, including forwards Brandon Saad and Matt Calvert, defensemen Erik Johnson, Bowen Byram and Samuel Girard and goalies Pavel Francouz and Devan Dubnyk.

Colorado, which has clinched a playoff spot, went into Friday’s action second in the division with a 34-13-4 record, one point ahead of the Minnesota Wild and four points behind the Vegas Golden Knights.

–Field Level Media