Colorado avalanche

Jonathan Drouin is day-to-day with an upper-body injury and will miss at least the next two games for the Avalanche.

The forward was injured in an 8-4 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday. He finished the game minus-1 in 21:25 of ice time.

“He’s definitely not playing tomorrow (Saturday against the Columbus Blue Jackets) (or) Monday (New York Islanders),” coach Jared Bednar said, “and then he’ll be re-evaluated over and over again and see where things go.”

Drouin finished fourth on the Avalanche last season with a career-high 56 points (19 goals, 37 assists) in 79 regular season games and signed a one-year contract on July 1.

“Every man missing makes the job harder, but it forces our team to get straight into the details and commitment side of the game,” Bednar said. “We said it when we came in, we have to expect that everyone in our lineup has to be at the top of their game, not just play in a role, but thrive in that role to be successful. So that’s a little busy right out of the gate.”

Nikolai Kovalenko could take his place on the top line alongside Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen.

Bednar said he will consider either recalling a forward from Colorado from the American Hockey League or using a lineup of 11 forwards and seven defensemen when the Avalanche host the Blue on Saturday (9 p.m. ET; ALT, BSOH) Jackets. The team currently has eight defensemen listed, with Oliver Kylington and John Ludvig available to play.

The Avalanche claimed goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen off waivers from the Winnipeg Jets on Friday.

The 28-year-old was 7-24-3 with a 3.64 goals-against average and .898 save percentage in 37 games (33 starts) with the San Jose Sharks and New Jersey Devils last season.

“He has played well before, he is free and we have space,” Bednar said. “So if we can push our goalies, like we don’t know how it’s going to turn out, right? So we’ve seen better from our goalies than we’ve seen here recently, and if they can take their game to the next level, great.” And if Kahkonen can come in and play well, great.” –Ryan Boulding