The Colorado Avalanche announced they will be without head coach Jared Bednar for their upcoming two-game road trip against the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames after he suffered facial fractures and a corneal abrasion during Saturday’s 3-2 overtime loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.
Bednar, who was hit in the face by an errant puck in the third period, will not require surgery and is expected to fully recover.
Assistant coach Nolan Pratt, who will coach the team along with assistant Dave Hakstol during Bednar’s absence, provided an update after the loss:
Michael Kelly of the Associated Press noted Bednar was hospitalized but fully alert and conscious after a puck flew off the stick of Knights defenseman Keegan Kolesar and into the coach’s cheek.
A trainer immediately helped take him to the locker room.
“It’s certainly a little unnerving,” Pratt said. “It’s scary when the pucks are flying in there. It happens all the time, and unfortunate tonight, so it takes a little second to sort of recalibrate and then get back to it.”
The game continued, though, and ended up going into overtime before Jack Eichel scored the winning goal in the extra period.
Colorado still earned a point for the overtime loss and clinched the best record in the NHL for the season. It has 115 points with a 52-16-11 record and is playing out the string on the rest of the regular season before the playoffs.
This is Bednar’s 10th season as the head coach of the Avalanche during a span that includes the 2022 Stanley Cup title.
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