Avalanche's Duchene, MacKinnon to miss at least next 2 games

If the Colorado Avalanche are going to climb back into a playoff spot, they'll have to press on without two of their best players.

Matt Duchene and Nathan MacKinnon, both of whom are dealing with knee injuries, have been ruled out of at least the next two games, the team announced Sunday.

Duchene has missed the past six games, while MacKinnon has sat out five. The pair has combined for 108 points this season.

Colorado is scheduled to visit Nashville on Monday with a game the next night in St. Louis. At that point, the Avalanche will have five games remaining on the schedule, but it may already be too late to make up the gap between them and Minnesota for the final wild-card spot.