Avalanche Star Nazem Kadri Out for Series vs. Oilers After Illegal Hit

The Colorado forward left Game 3 and didn't return with an upper-body injury.

Avalanche forward Nazem Kadri is expected to miss the rest of the Western Conference Final after leaving Game 3 with an injury. Colorado head coach Jared Bednar confirmed the news after the game, adding Kadri could be out for “longer” than just this series.

Kadri suffered the injury in the first period when Evander Kane checked him head first into the boards. Kane got a five-minute major on the play for boarding, but Kadri couldn’t return.

Evander Kane gets a five-minute major penalty for this hit on Nazem Kadri pic.twitter.com/wycyNWdDbc

— Brady Trettenero (@BradyTrett) June 5, 2022

Bednar wasn’t happy with the hit by Kane.

“The hit is the most dangerous play in hockey,” Bednar said, via, ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski. “It puts him in headfirst from behind, eight feet off the boards. I’ll leave it at that.”

Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog also expressed his disappointment with Kane, saying that is the type of hit no hockey player should ever do.

"Those are the ones that kind of give you chills down your spin,” he said. “You’re taught from a young age that you don’t do that, especially in that distance from the boards. It’s a dangerous play.”

Kane, however, said he wasn’t intentionally trying to injure Kadri. Instead, the Oilers forward believes Kadri’s injury was just an “unfortunate” situation.

“I was just coming around on the backcheck. Puck went wide, kind of dribbled into the corner. I know he likes to reverse it,” Kane said, via Wyshynski. “I was just trying get a bump on him. That’s all I did. Unfortunately, he went into the boards awkwardly and hurt his hands.”

Despite Kadri’s injury, the Avalanche took a 3-0 lead with a win in Edmonton Sunday night. One more victory would give Colorado time to evaluate Kadri before the Stanley Cup Final begins.

Kadri has been one of Colorado’s most important players, scoring 28 goals and 59 assists during the regular season, the latter leading the team. In the playoffs, he currently has six goals and eight assists through 13 games.

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