Colorado points leader Nazem Kadri ‘evaluated,’ misses Friday’s Avalanche practice
CENTENNIAL – Nazem Kadri, the Colorado Avalanche team leader in assists and points, missed practice at Family Sports Center on Friday. His status for Saturday’s matinee against the Pittsburgh Penguins was in question.
“He’s getting evaluated today, so we’ll see about him for tomorrow,” coach Jared Bednar said.
Bednar said his level of concern would be determined “when (Kadri) gets back from his appointments today.”
Fellow forward J.T. Compher, meanwhile, took a maintenance day.
With about 13 minutes left in Thursday night’s 4-2 Colorado victory, San Jose forward Tomas Hertl used his body and stick to shove Kadri, who was facing the boards, into Sharks teammate Timo Meier. Kadri appeared to run into Meier’s back face-first. Both players went down and Kadri’s nose was cut.
“I didn’t like it, but quite frankly my opinion doesn’t matter,” Colorado defenseman Jack Johnson said.
Colorado Avalanche glide past San Jose Sharks in third period
Kadri was examined by a trainer but skated back to the bench on his own. He later picked up the primary assist on Mikko Rantanen’s go-ahead, power-play goal.
Kadri has 26 goals and 57 assists in 65 games. He’s been toward the top of the NHL scoring list for much of the season so far.
Sturm settling in
Forward Nico Sturm joined the Avalanche via trade on March 15 and has appeared in seven games. He’s taken 10 shots on goal and won just over 59% of his faceoffs.
He’s also taken up residence on the penalty kill. He led Avalanche forwards in shorthanded ice time Sunday against his former team, the Minnesota Wild. There’s still a question here and there about the kill or the need for a coach to draw something up.
“But just in terms of how I feel, I feel pretty settled by now,” Sturm said.
Off the ice, an important order of business was getting out of that initial hotel. He said he moved into a new place a few days ago and has enjoyed the Colorado weather.
“You’ve got the playoffs right around the corner and the sun’s coming out,” Sturm said. “It kind of lifts the spirits.”
He has a 30-35 point total in mind in a bottom-six role, but sits at 17 points on the season with 14 games to play. His first point as a member of the Avalanche hasn’t arrived yet. He’s gotten into good scoring position several times but the goal hasn’t materialized.
“Plenty of chances every game,” Sturm said. “It’s a little bit frustrating, kind of wraps up how my season went.
“I’m not a guy that always likes to blame it on puck luck. I think you’ve got to create it for yourselves. But certainly a bounce here or there would be nice at this point.”