Injured Avalanche star Nate MacKinnon out 1-2 weeks

Colorado Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon will be sidelined one to two weeks with a lower-body injury, the team announced Wednesday.

MacKinnon left in the second period of Monday night's 3-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings.

Coach Jared Bednar said on Altitude Sports Radio on Tuesday that he thought MacKinnon might have avoided serious injury. Bednar couldn't point to one event that caused the problem.

"I don't think it was just one incident," Bednar said. "I just think he went out to play and it didn't feel great sometime during the first period, and [he] decided just to call it quits."

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This season, MacKinnon has 35 goals and 58 assists, his 93 points good for fifth in the league. The 24-year-old finished second in Hart Trophy voting in 2017-18 and sixth last season.

The Avs have been battling injuries to a number of key players -- including forwards Mikko Rantanen, Andre Burakovsky and Nazem Kadri, defenseman Cale Makar and goalie Philipp Grubauer. But they have gone 7-2-1 in their past 10 games to remain in second place in the tough Central Division.