Gabe Landeskog out 10-14 days; Francouz, Maltsev recalled

News from the Avalanche morning skate: Captain Gabe Landeskog’s lower body injury will keep him out 10-14 days. Jared Bednar said “two weeks, hopefully less,” so I’m going to be the optimistic one and say 10-14 days.

To help fill in the forward lines, the Avs recalled Mikhail Maltsev from the Colorado Eagles. They also recalled goalie Pavel Francouz, who completed a very successful stint with the Eagles, making 33-of-34 saves in a 2-1 win. Frankie finished 3-1 with the Eagles, with a .947 saves percentage. That works.

Frankie will be the backup to Darcy Kuemper for tonight’s 6 p.m. game against the Florida Panthers.

Nazem Kadri skated today, but won’t play. Bednar said Kadri remains “day to day. He tried it this morning…I don’t think he’s fully game ready.”

I think it’s a virtual lock he plays Tuesday against the New York Rangers. I thought he’d play tonight, but a couple more days of rest and recovery is the new plan.

Maltsev has played well for the Eagles, with 15 points in 18 games (five goals).

Bo Byram (head) did not skate, and there remains no timeline on a potential return.

For information on the Panthers’ lineup tonight, including the starting goalie, click on our sister site, Florida Hockey Now, here (free story).

On the injuries, Bednar said: “(Winning) eases the pain of having to do that. The guys that are available and play are doing a great job and we’re winning hockey games. It becomes more difficult and frustrating when you’re losing. We’re just hoping to kind of keep this thing going and try to get healthy.

“I don’t even know if we’ve had the team together at this point in the year, which is crazy. Just finally got our D corps back together for a game and then Bo goes back out. It just is what it is. I have to worry about the guys that are playing, who’s in, and fortunately, we’ve had a lot of guys step up. Like Newhook’s really taken a step, O’Connor, Val, guys that are contributing on the offensive side of it at a really good clip, probably career-high numbers for some of these guys. I don’t see why they can’t continue in the course of the season. And then when we get our guys back, it makes us a deeper team. We’ve got guys doing things right now that maybe they don’t generally do, but that’s positive things, especially if you’re winning hockey games.”