Every game matters, but some lose their luster due to extenuating circumstances. This was one of them.

The Colorado Avalanche fell 2-1 to the Florida Panthers on Sunday, but the greater concern is the health of their captain, Gabriel Landeskog. The 33-year-old Swede left the game in the second period after a hard collision with the net and did not return due to an upper-body injury. Colorado struggled to find any momentum after Landeskog left the game.

Here are five takeaways from the third regulation loss of the season for the Avalanche.

Let’s be honest here. Did anyone care about the score of this game after Landeskog left the game? The Avalanche are calling it an upper-body injury, causing fans who were concerned about his knees to breathe a sigh of relief. Still, it didn’t look good. Going full speed into a post is painful enough, but it’s made even worse by the fact that the part of Landeskog’s body that hit the post doesn’t have padding. After the game, coach Jared Bednar said Landeskog will miss some time, but did say he’s still being evaluated. Carolina’s Seth Jarvis had something similar happen on Dec. 19 and still has not returned, although he is skating again. Coincidentally, that injury also took place in Florida.

Devon Toews returned after a dangerous tumble into the boards on Saturday against the Hurricanes, but he did not play on Sunday in Florida with what the team is also calling an upper-body injury. After the game, Bednar said Toews will miss “some time.” The Avalanche were forced to dress Ilya Solovyov, who had not played an NHL game since Nov. 1. Before Sunday, the Avalanche had dressed the same six defensemen for 26 games, so they’ve had some good injury luck on the backend.

Florida really locked things down in the third period, giving up just five shots on goal to the Avalanche while protecting a one-goal lead. Three of those five shots came in the final few minutes, with Nathan MacKinnon nearly scoring a highlight-reel goal in the final 10 seconds of the game.

It’s been a fantastic season for Sam Malinski, but this was a forgettable game for him. Sam Bennett took the puck away from him and then just bullied Malinski before scoring the first goal of the game for Florida. Moments later, Malinski had two brutal turnovers in his own end where Scott Wedgewood had to bail him out.

Colorado’s second line was easily the most dangerous in this game, as they scored the only goal of the night for the Avalanche. When Landeskog left, the default move would have been to put Artturi Lehkonen back on the top line, but it was difficult to do that with the way the second line was playing. Brock Nelson continues to play well, picking up an assist on Lehkonen’s goal and was inches away from scoring a beautiful goal of his own in the first period.

Panthers 2, Avalanche 1

What happened: A tired Avalanche squad couldn’t muster a comeback on this night.

What went right: Colorado’s second line was the only line that could generate consistent offense against the Panthers, with Lehkonen beating Tarasov on a deflection.

What went wrong: The Avalanche had three power plays in the second period, where they could have gained some momentum but failed to generate any dangerous chances.

Avalanche goal scorers: Lehkonen (15)

Panthers goal scorers: Bennett (14), Ekblad (3)

Between the pipes: Scott Wedgewood got the start again, stopping 23 shots in the loss.

What’s next: The Avalanche close out their road trip in Tampa Bay at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.