The Good, the Bad and the Ugly from the Avalanche’s Canadian road swing

The Colorado Avalanche careened through their three-game Canadian road swing as their roller-coaster season continued to bring plenty of Good, Bad and Ugly for the week. Because of the nature of the road trip, TGBU will break with tradition, and cover the elephant in the room first.

THE UGLY

1. Nathan MacKinnon’s injury midway through the Vancouver Canucks game can only be described as a gut punch. Losing the player second in the league in scoring creates a vacuum no one player can fill. Even with missing the last two and a half games, MacKinnon sits in a third-place tie for NHL scoring. The team needs to step up – as a whole – and muddle through until his return. It’s not just ugly, it’s brutal. Everyone can be thankful, though, MacKinnon is out for weeks instead of the rest of the season.