Around the NHL: Landeskog among injured Avalanche players joining road trip

The Colorado Avalanche are still competing for seeding in the Central Division and appear to have some injured players nearing a return.

Head coach Jared Bednar said Gabriel Landeskog, Josh Manson, Artturi Lehkonen and Pavel Francouz will all be joining the team on an upcoming four-game road trip to California. It's unclear if or when any of the players will return to the lineup.

Landeskog has yet to play this season following knee surgery in the summer and Manson has been out since March 1 with a lower-body injury. Lehkonen suffered a finger injury in mid-March that came with a four-to-six-week recovery timeline, while Francouz last played Feb. 7 and has been dealing with a lower-body injury.

The Avalanche enter play Monday even on points with the Dallas Stars and one behind the Minnesota Wild for seeding in the Central. Colorado will play the Sharks twice before making stops in Anaheim and Los Angeles on the road trip, beginning Tuesday.

The Montreal Canadiens announced that centre Sean Monahan had undergone groin surgery while forward Alex Belzile would miss the remainder of the season with a fractured leg.

Additionally, Jake Allen, Jake Evans, Jordan Harris and Rafaël Harvey-Pinard were given therapy days and missed Monday's practice.

Monahan was limited to only 25 games this season and last played on Dec. 5. In those limited games he had six goals and 17 points, but his injury history will certainly be a challenge when he hits the open market as an unrestricted free agent this summer.

Belzile, 31, set a career-high with 31 games played this season, scoring six goals and 14 points.

The duo join Cole Caufield (shoulder), Arber Xhekaj (shoulder), Josh Anderson (ankle), David Savard (knee), Kaiden Guhle (ankle), Christian Dvorak (knee)and Juraj Slafkovsky (lower body) on a long list of players with season-ending injuries.

The Canadiens have five games remaining this season. Cayden Primeau will start against the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday.

The Minnesota Wild are closing in on clinching a playoff spot and could soon have superstar Kirill Kaprizov back in the lineup.

Kaprizov skated with the team on Monday and head coach Dean Evason told reporters "he's progressing."

Kaprizov suffered a lower-body injury in early March and was expected to miss three-to-four weeks. At the time of his injury, he was leading the Wild with 39 goals and 74 points — 15 more points than his next closest teammate, as the Wild were among the lower-scoring teams in the league. However, the Wild have played well without their superstar and thanks to a 7-2-2 record in that time, they enter play Monday first in the Central Division.

In other Wild news, Evason announced forward Mason Shaw would miss the remainder of the season with a torn ACL, the fourth such injury of his young career.

The Buffalo Sabres remain in the playoff race — with two games in hand on the Penguins and Panthers and three in hand on the Islanders — and are set to get their leading scorer back in the lineup when visit the Panthers in a pivotal game Tuesday.

Tage Thompson returned to practice Monday on his normal line with Jeff Skinner and Alex Tuch after missing three games after suffering an upper-body injury during a March 24 game against the Devils. His status for Tuesday's game was not confirmed after practice but both Thompson and coach Don Granato seemed optimistic he could return to the lineup.

"It just got to a point where it was hindering me too much to where I couldn't really play my game and be effective," Thompson said, according to Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News. "So I figured it was time to take some time to get healthy so I could be healthy for the last push here."

Devon Levi is expected to start for the Sabres against the Panthers, just his second career start in the NHL. Levi was a key piece traded by the Panthers to the Sabres in exchange for Sam Reinhart.

Sergei Bobrovsky remains unavailable for the Panthers with an illness, meaning Alex Lyon will be in the net for Tuesday's pivotal game against the Sabres.

It will be four-straight starts for Lyon although George Richards of Florida Hockey Now reports that Bobrovsky could backup Tuesday and return to practice later in the week.

Additionally, Richards reports that Sam Bennett remains unavailable for the Panthers with a groin injury that flared up again after developing earlier in the season.

Bennett hasn't played since having two assists against the Detroit Red Wings on March 20.

The Dallas Stars could clinch a playoff spot Monday and will have a top prospect in the lineup when they host the Nashville Predators.

The team announced defenceman Thomas Harley will be in the lineup, replacing Joe Hanley and partnering with Colin Miller.

Harley, a first-round pick in 2019, will be making his season debut with the Stars after skating in 34 NHL games last season. In 66 AHL games this season, he has 10 goals and 34 points.

Scott Wedgewood will start in net for the Stars while Fredrik Olofsson will replace Joel Kiviranta.