Hope. That’s all Avalanche fans have been looking for.

Injury after injury has crushed the souls of the fanbase early in the season, leaving some to wonder if the team is truly cursed. First it was Jonathan Drouin, then Ross Colton, then Miles Wood. For a team already missing Valeri Nichushkin, Artturi Lehkonen, and Gabriel Landeskog, things looked bleak.

On Tuesday, the return of Lehkonen gave fans the hope they had been looking for. It also appeared to give the Avalanche a much-needed jolt of energy, helping them break their three-game losing streak with a 6-3 victory.

That hope lasted about, oh, 90 minutes. Halfway through the second, Cale Makar exited a power play shift in significant pain, never to return that period. He gave it the old college try in the third period, but lasted about 1.5 shifts before calling it a night.

In typical Avalanche fashion, there wasn’t much of an update after the game.

“(He) just said he tweaked something in the late in the second and wasn’t able to continue,” Jared Bednar said after the win.

The defense, outside of a brief Devon Toews absence, has been relatively healthy to start the season. One guy you can’t afford to lose is Makar, who has five more points than the second highest scoring defenseman in the league. Heck, for a few days, Makar was leading the entire league in scoring.

Colorado survived most of the final 30 minutes without their Norris Trophy winner, thanks in large part to sacrifices from everyone else on the ice. One guy who really put his body on the line was Parker Kelly, as he blocked five or six shots on a single shift late in the third. Seattle eventually scored on a goal Bednar said Justus Annunen probably should have had, but Kelly told The Gazette those sort of things come with the job description.

“I’ll do anything to win,” he said.

His coach loved it.

“Insane,” Bednar said of Kelly’s sacrifice. “I thought he was outstanding.”

Contributions, even if they aren’t on the scoresheet, are what this team needs to hang around until some more players return. The top guys continue to eat, as Nathan MacKinnon picked up five assists to become the league leader in scoring, but they got goals from everyone. Two rookies, Ivan Ivan and Nikolai Kovalenko, both found the back of the net, while journeyman Chris Wagner got the party started.

The boost from Lehkonen’s return was noticeable. Now the Avalanche will hold their breath when it comes to their big dog on the blueline.

Avalanche 6, Kraken 3

What happened: Colorado got goals from pretty much every line and the power play kept rolling, helping them snap their losing streak.

What went right: Mikko Rantanen picked up a hat trick on opening night, but has been pretty quiet since then, with just one goal in his last 11 games. He finally broke through on Tuesday with a power play goal, although a bizarre double review almost took it away. Beyond scoring a goal, he looked more physically engaged than he has in recent games. He also added an empty netter late. Maybe he was pumped to have his Finnish buddy back.

What went wrong: Some strange moments at Ball Arena this year. We’ve already seen the refs ignore a puck hitting the netting, which led to a goal against, but on Tuesday we got the rare double review. Rantanen’s second period goal was initially called back because Lehkonen entered the zone before the puck.

Hold up.

The Avalanche kept arguing that a Kraken player put the puck back into their own zone, which means it wouldn’t be offside. Eventually, they got the refs to review it again and the goal stood. It doesn’t even sound like Bednar had to challenge it.

“I think Cale talking to the linesman and staying in their ear, getting them to back it up and look at it is what ended up being the difference,” he said.

Between the pipes: Justus Annunen stopped 17 of 20 shots, and probably would like that last one back.

“I’d like to see that one stay out of the net,” Bednar said. “He should have been over there a little bit earlier.”

Avalanche goal scorers: Wagner (1), Ivan (3), Lehkonen (1), Rantanen (5,6), Kovalenko (2)

Kraken goal scorers: Schwartz (3), McCann (6), Beniers (3)

What’s next: Colorado will head out on the road for their first matchup with the red-hot Winnipeg Jets on Thursday at 6 PM.