MacKinnon destroys Palat with a huge reverse hit

In case you missed it last night the Colorado Avalanche dropped a 4-3 decision to the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning in a very eventful game between the two Stanley Cup contenders. The Avs are now riding a three game losing streak and look to be slipping away from the top of the NHL's Central Division standings. 

One player who will not go down politely however is superstar Nathan Mackinnon. Big Nate had a goal and two points last night to bring his season totals to an incredible 33 goals and 82 points in just 58 games. Wow.

Even more impressive though might be this "reverse hit" on Lightning forward Ondrej Palat.

Check it out:

KABOOM!

I can just imagine MacKinnon shouting "You wanna take a run at me!?" while Palat bounces off him like a fly. Love it.

In other Avs news star forward Mikko Rantanen left last night's game with an apparent upper body injury. Rantanen got tripped up by Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak and went HARD into the end boards, shoulder and head first.

Here's the play in question:

Ouch. That doesn't look good. 

It's obvious that Rantanen will miss some time due to injury, but how much? How serious is this injury?

Well... buckle up, Avs fans...

According to Avs insider Adrian Dater, Rantanen has a broken collarbone and will be out 6-8 weeks.

Check it out:

Double ouch.

This is obviously AWFUL news for a team right in the thick of competing for a divisional title. First, the Avs lose second line center Nazem Kadri to injury, then goalie Philipp Grubauer... now they lose Ratanen, as well. Triple ouch.