MacKinnon, Toews and Bellemare all could play Sunday

Nathan MacKinnon, Devon Toews and P.E. Bellemare all returned to the Avalanche practice ice today at Ball Arena. And, coach Jared Bednar said, some or all of the three could play on Sunday, when the Avs are slated to resume their NHL regular season in Las Vegas against the Golden Knights.

“They looked good,” Bednar said of MacKinnon, Toews and Bellemare, all of whom have been out with lower-body injuries.

The rest of Avs practice, and how guys looked? Bednar wasn’t too happy.

“Guys looked slow. There was some rust, for sure,” said Bednar, whose team has been shut down since early last week because of Covid-19 protocol issues.

Asked if he was concerned at having to play a Golden Knights team that has been “firing on all cylinders” lately, after a rusty layoff, Bednar said: “Yeah, I got a lot of concern, especially after our practice today. We’ll put our best foot forward, but do I have concerns? Absolutely.”

What did Avalanche players do to stay in shape during the pause? Well, that was harder to do than usual. Players were prohibited from using any of the team facilities and were essentially told to just stay indoors, away from people.

For goalie Philipp Grubauer, that meant riding his Peloton at home but not much else. For Nazen Kadri, it was “trying to drag myself down there” to his home gym.

Both players said the pause wasn’t ideal for a team that was playing well and for staying in a good rhythm physically and mentally, but that the silver lining was in the fact that guys such as MacKinnon and Toews and Bellemare could heal up without missing more games. The NHL still has yet to announce how and when their postponed games will be made up.

“The more healthy we are, the better of a team we are,” Kadri said. “That part actually worked to our advantage and how we just have to try and take advantage of it for the next few days.”

Bednar is clearly frustrated at having his team’s season put on pause.

“As a coach, I don’t like any of it. But we’ve got to do what the league says,” Bednar said.

But part of being a good team, Bednar said, is being “together as a team” and that just hasn’t been the case of late. Now, with even more stringent safety measures in place, Bednar said “We’re already split into different locker rooms.”

As far as the three players on the “Covid list” (Gabe Landeskog, Sam Girard and Tyson Jost), Bednar said they are “doing fine” and following the protocol, but won’t likely be available as players again until next week.

The Avs are slated to practice Friday and Saturday, then board a plane for games in Vegas that would include the Feb. 20 Outdoor Game at Lake Tahoe.

That’s if the games go on, mind you.