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Watch: Mikko Rantanen slammed hard into boards by Mattias Ekholm, exits game with upper-body injury
The Colorado Avalanche suffered a major blow during Friday night's game against the Edmonton Oilers when star forward Mikko Rantanen exited following a hard hit from Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm.
Rantanen was backchecking in the defensive zone when Ekholm delivered a crushing hit into the boards resulting in an upper-body injury.
Mikko Rantanen was dazed and needed assistance from referees and trainers to make his way off the ice. He did not return to the game.
Watch the video here:
The incident occurred midway through the second period with the Avs level 2-2 with the Oilers. Notably, there was no penalty given on the play, much to the chagrin of Avalanche players and fans. Replays showed Ekholm making direct contact with Rantanen's upper body in what could be considered a high hit.
Losing Mikko Rantanen for any period would be a massive loss for the Avalanche, who rely heavily on his offensive production on a line with Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog. Rantanen is in the midst of another stellar season with 40 goals and 62 assists resulting in 102 points for the second consecutive season.
Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar gave an update on Rantanen’s condition during a post-game interview:
"Obviously you guys saw what happened, right? So, he takes a hit, yeah, he was unable to continue so. He'll be under evaluation for a while."
If he misses time, the Avalanche will likely shift Artturi Lehkonen or Valeri Nichushkin up to the top line while having a hole to fill on the second line.
Despite Mikko Rantanen's injury, the Avalanche fell 6-2 to the Oilers on Friday night. With this win, Edmonton officially qualifies for the playoffs.
Mikko Rantanen's Avalanche suffer 6-2 loss against Oilers
The Avalanche have now dropped four of their past six games. Jonathan Drouin and Ross Colton tallied for Colorado, while netminder Alexandar Georgiev stopped 41 shots in the losing effort.
"Yeah. We weren't good enough. It's a tough game to start," Bednar said post-game.
"My concern was our energy. Looked like we lacked it and with the lack of energy comes the lack of execution. Weren’t smart enough and they outplayed us.
"We knew we were gonna see the best version of them. I mean we didn't give ourself a chance."
Connor McDavid and Evander Kane led the Oilers' offense, each scoring two goals. Corey Perry and Mattias Ekholm added one goal apiece. With the win, Edmonton snapped a two-game skid and extended its home dominance to 9-0-1 over the last 10 contests. Goaltender Stuart Skinner made 21 saves for the Oilers.
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