DENVER — Cale Makar is in hot water.
The Colorado Avalanche defenseman was suspended one game after leveling Seattle Kraken forward Jared McCann during Game 4 on Tuesday.
Makar will therefore miss a pivotal Game 5 at Ball Arena on Wednesday with the series tied at two.
The incident in question occurred behind the Avalanche net at 8:24 of the first period of the Kraken's 3-2 eventual overtime victory.
McCann had just been stopped on a shorthanded breakaway and was skating into the corner after the puck went into the netting when Makar hit him into the boards.
Makar was originally handed a major penalty, but it was changed to a minor for interference after video review. McCann, meanwhile, was helped off the ice and did not return.
Here's a look at the play:
Makar, of course, is vital to Colorado's success, and his importance is up there with Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen.
In fact, Makar won the Conn Smythe Trophy as Stanley Cup Playoffs MVP last year after recording 29 points in 20 games. That performance came after his Norris Trophy winning regular season.
Clearly his absence would be a huge hurdle for the defending champions.
On the other side of things, losing McCann will be a difficult blow for the Kraken. He led Seattle in scoring this season with 40 goals and 30 assists, and will also miss at least Game 5.
Kraken coach Dave Hakstol was clearly not pleased following Tuesday's game about losing McCann.
"(McCann) shoots that puck. It goes immediately out of play, straight up into the netting, and I don't know how many feet or whatever, I don't really care about that," he said, per NHL.com. I believe the puck is being caught by a fan as (McCann) is being run into the end wall.
"So late hit, really late, no puck in play, our 40-goal scorer not available for the rest of the game and like I said not going to be available going forward here."\
The Avalanche will have to really turn things around with how they are starting games if they want to leave Denver with a 3-2 series lead.
Playing from behind is not what you want and the Avs have done that every game of the series.
That challenge will only be more difficult to overcome with Makar out of the lineup.