We Saw This Coming: The Avalanche Must Protect Cale Makar

The second time was not the charm.

The Avalanche watched Nicolas Roy play through an apparent lower-body injury earlier this season, only to lose him for six games. Now, Cale Makar is in a similar situation, and Colorado needs to learn from what happened before history repeats itself.

Makar sustained a lower-body injury during the second period of Colorado’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday.

Just four seconds into his shift at 10:44 of the second period, Makar appeared to struggle to push off his right leg after attempting to play the puck and headed to the locker room. He briefly returned for another shift, lasting just 23 seconds before leaving for…