MacKinnon departs vs. Kings due to lower-body injury

Colorado Avalanche superstar Nathan MacKinnon suffered a lower-body injury Tuesday against the Los Angeles Kings, the team announced, according to The Denver Post's Mike Chambers.

MacKinnon left midway through the second period and did not return. Head coach Jared Bednar offered no update postgame. It's unclear what caused the injury, although there was one play right before he exited where he appeared to be laboring.

Y'all be the judge. I don't see anything but he does seem to labor a bit. pic.twitter.com/UvflrgkFw9

- Nathan Rudolph (@Nathan__Rudolph) March 10, 2020

The Avs are already without several key players due to injury, including center Nazem Kadri, wingers Mikko Rantanen, Matt Calvert, and Andre Burakovsky, phenom defenseman Cale Makar, and starting goaltender Philipp Grubauer. Captain Gabriel Landeskog has already missed 16 games due to injury this season, too.

MacKinnon is fourth in the league with 93 points. He's nearly doubled the next highest point total on his team, as Makar ranks second with 47.

Copyright (C) 2020 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.