The first indication of Colorado’s stance on the latest controversial playoff hit was caught on a referee’s hot microphone.
After officials convened in the second period of Game 6 on Friday night, the referee announced Jordan Eberle’s boarding penalty for crosschecking Andrew Cogliano from behind. It was a two-minute minor.
“Two minutes?” Nathan MacKinnon could be heard through the mic at Climate Pledge Arena, surprised and exasperated that the call wasn’t a five-minute major, which can be reviewed and reduced. His reaction also turned out to be a microcosm of how the next 24 hours would unfold. Cogliano is out indefinitely with a fractured neck resulting from Eberle’s hit, a source told The Post on Saturday evening, the eve of Game 7 between the Avalanche and Kraken.
The 35-year-old forward returned to the ice in the third period of Colorado’s 4-1 win in Seattle. Even when the team landed back in Denver on Saturday, coach Jared Bednar was unconcerned about Cogliano’s status going into winner-take-all Game 7.
“He’s feeling OK,” Bednar said. “Obviously a little bit sore, but I think he’ll be good to go for tomorrow.”
Then Cogliano was reevaluated Saturday afternoon. He suffered a fracture of the C5 Lamina.
The Avs were miffed as to why the NHL Department of Player Safety did not hold a hearing with Eberle to review the hit. Hearings usually precede suspensions, as was the case with Cale Makar after his Game 4 hit on Jared McCann. Makar received a one-game suspension the next day, and the Avalanche lost Game 5 without him.
Bednar, asked for his thoughts on Eberle not similarly receiving supplemental discipline from the league, shrugged and laughed. “I don’t know,” he said. “I can’t figure it out anymore. So I don’t even try.”
That was before Bednar or anyone else knew the extent of Cogliano’s injury.
“I actually haven’t even seen (the replay) yet; from what I’ve heard, it’s not great,” defenseman Devon Toews said. “It is what it is. You’ve gotta trust Player Safety to do what they do, as hard as it is sometimes. And you can disagree, agree with what they’re doing. And they make their comments or their intuitions off of it. But maybe if Cogs just stays down, it’s something else. But definitely thought it should have been a major that’s reviewable.”
Eberle scored Seattle’s overtime game-winning goal to even the series in Game 4. The right winger scored 20 goals and registered 63 points this season, a critical component of the Kraken’s turnaround in their second year as a franchise.
Manson, Helm also out
On the morning of Game 5, Josh Manson admitted he was “just trying to still catch up a little bit” after returning from a lower-body injury at the start of the series. “Trying to keep the body going,” he said.
The big defenseman left the bench that night in the third period, not feeling well enough to skate in high-stakes minutes. Manson and center Darren Helm are both officially out for Game 7 of the first-round series, Bednar said Saturday.
Helm also returned from an injury during this series, but he played only in Game 2 before a hit from Will Borgen sidelined him again. Manson’s injury is a continuation of the one he has dealt with since early December 2022.
