Any adversity the Colorado Avalanche faced through their first 19 games pales in comparison to what they’re dealing with now.

Game No. 20 brought a new set of challenges, as both Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar exited Thursday night’s eventual 4-3 overtime loss to the Ottawa Senators with lower-body injuries. Those two storylines have quickly jumped to the top of the list of concerns for a team that was slowly starting to figure things out. There’s a chance Colorado could have to play without both of them, but we won’t know more until Saturday.

Avalanche lines tonight: projected lineup and starting goalie →

Read NextPostgame Reaction: Avalanche Hit With Two Nightmare-Level Injuries in OT Loss to Ottawa

10 Takeaways

1. It’s always surreal watching Nathan MacKinnon go down, simply because of how rare it is. It takes a lot to knock that guy out of a game, and even more to keep him from playing the next one. I remember feeling the exact same way when he suffered that injury in Game 3 against the Vegas Golden Knights last May.

2. If you go back and listen to Makar’s press conference with Joe Sakic after signing his record-breaking extension in August, you’ll notice he sort of tiptoed around a question about whether the injuries he dealt with last season were entirely behind him. I remember him doing something similar early in training camp and I made a mental note of it.

There was a shift against the Detroit Red Wings last weekend when Makar appeared to be in discomfort, and my mind immediately went back to that press conference. His departure from Sunday’s practice, followed by Thursday night’s injury on what appeared to be a harmless play, only added to the concern. Something isn’t right here, and if I’m the Avs, I’m making sure they get to the bottom of it before putting him back on the ice.

3. Jared Bednar told reporters in Ottawa after the game that both players are traveling with the team to Montreal, but he isn’t sure what their status will be for Saturday just yet. That’s not necessarily good news, but it’s not bad news, either.

I personally wouldn’t be too concerned if both missed the Montreal game, simply because of how quickly it’s coming up. Beyond that, the Avs have a pretty favorable stretch. After Saturday’s game on Nov. 14, they don’t play again until Nov. 18 in Utah and Nov. 19 at Ball Arena. They’re then off until Nov. 25.

Basically, both guys could miss 12 days of action, and it would only cost them three games. We’ll see what happens in Montreal.

Read NextWATCH: MacKinnon Leaves Avalanche Game With Apparent Injury

4. I’m sure it’s difficult to think positively right now, but the Avalanche actually put together a pretty solid second 10-game segment. They went 5-4-1 to start the season but have gone 6-2-2 over their last 10 games. Beating Ottawa would have made that record look a lot better, but 6-2-2 is pretty good if you ask me.

They just need to shake off some of the bad performances. Both regulation losses during that stretch were brutal, falling 6-2 in Nashville and 7-2 in Columbus.

5. Gabe Landeskog is up to three goals in his last two games and eight on the season. I remember Bednar repeating for weeks that, at Landeskog’s age, it’s fine for him to start the season slowly because he believes he’ll eventually get his feet under him. I think Bednar was right. Landeskog looks much better than he did a few weeks ago.

He’s even shooting more. After putting another four shots on goal against Ottawa, the captain has 14 shots in his last four games. That’s pretty impressive considering he had just 17 in the first 16 games of the season.

6. It’s already been 13 games since Brett McLean joined the Avalanche’s coaching staff. The first three games with him running the power play were a bit slow. But over the last 10 games, Colorado has scored 10 power-play goals on 35 opportunities. That’s a 28.6% success rate, which ranks eighth in the league during that span.

Three of those power-play goals came from Nazem Kadri, while Landeskog and Martin Necas each scored twice. MacKinnon has six power-play points, five of which are assists.

7. T.J. Hughes really needs to gain the confidence to shoot the puck more. But man, can the kid slow the game down and make plays on the power play. He doesn’t get rattled while taking an extra second to find a lane. Pretty impressive for a rookie.

8. I would have liked to see Colorado hold the lead it had late for two reasons. First, because of what it would have done for the overall morale of the locker room to win after losing MacKinnon and Makar while coming back from a 2-0 deficit. Second, because it would have meant Scott Wedgewood had a bounce-back performance and found his way back into the win column. He needs a win in the worst kind of way.

9. Falling behind on the road… The trend continues. That’s seven straight games in which the Avalanche have given up the first goal away from home. It’s also the fifth time in those seven games that they’ve fallen behind 2-0.

10. The Senators got Linus Ullmark back for this game. If you remember, he was injured in the Brady Tkachuk return game while in the middle of a spectacular start to the season. Ullmark entered the night 7-1-0 with a .945 save percentage and a 1.33 goals-against average. The Avs were the first team to score more than two goals against him this season.