After a hard fought come-from-behind victory on Thursday evening, the Colorado Avalanche went right back to work at Family Sports a little over 12 hours later, getting a full practice in before taking on the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.

There were a few important pieces absent from practice. Valeri Nichushkin, who is still listed as day-to-day, did not skate, nor did Josh Manson and Scott Wedgewood.

Wedgewood’s absence hardly comes as a surprise. He left the game against the Sabres after Zach Benson fell on his right leg in the third period. While the goaltender left the ice without putting any weight on his leg, there’s optimism the injury isn’t as bad as it looks. Wedgewood was walking around the practice facility on his own without a boot on his right foot, but the Avalanche are still evaluating the severity of his injury.

“I’m guessing it’s going to be week-to-week,” coach Jared Bednar said after practice. “They’re hoping it’s not a high ankle sprain, which would be an automatic six weeks. We’ll see what the imaging shows today. It won’t be a game or two, he’s going to miss some time. We’re just hoping for the best side of that timeline.”

In Wedgewood’s absence, the Avalanche recalled Trent Miner from the Colorado Eagles, and Miner is likely to start his first NHL game next week because Colorado’s schedule is too compacted to play Mackenzie Blackwood every game. Miner has just one NHL appearance under his belt, as he was called into action on Nov. 15 after Justus Annunen was pulled against the Washington Capitals.

Blackwood, however, will see a lot of action until Wedgewood is ready to return.

“There’s no reason for me that Blackwood can’t carry the load and play a lot,” Bednar said.

After the Buffalo game, Bednar was as heated in his post-game press conference as he’s ever been in his time in Denver. Most of that anger was directed towards the referees not blowing the whistle once Wedgewood was clearly injured. Bednar said he would talk to the league about what happened, and he did just that.

He wasn’t willing to go into much detail about what was discussed, though.

“I don’t want to say agree to disagree, but there’s some differences of opinion there,” he said.

Manson still not 100%

Josh Manson has not been afraid to let everyone know that he still hasn’t fully recovered from the injury he suffered at the end of November. While he’s been playing games, Colorado is letting him skip practices here and there to make sure that he won’t miss any more time.

“We’ve got a plan for (Manson),” Bednar said. “I think we’ll be able to manage it through to the break, and hopefully then by the time the break ends, he’s feeling 100%. We don’t want to make him too sore and get to the point where he’s unable to play.”

The break Bednar is referring to runs Feb. 8-21, as the league will stop while the 4 Nations Face-off takes place. Colorado plays 18 more games before that break begins.