Avalanche could lose key forward Mikko Rantanen for weeks with upper-body injury

General manager Joe Sakic is seeing a big hole on the right side of the Colorado Avalanche forward group a week away from the NHL trade deadline.

Right-winger Mikko Rantanen exited Monday's 4-3 overtime loss to visiting Tampa Bay at 7:18 of the second period with an upper-body injury after crashing into the boards following a trip by Lightning defenceman Erik Cernak.

Rantanen, who is fourth in team scoring with 41 points in 42 games, will be out several weeks and might have broken his left collarbone, according to some reports.

The 23-year-old from Nousiainen, Finland missed 16 games earlier this season with an ankle injury.

The 33-18-7 Avalanche are third in the Central Division with 73 points, eight more than fourth-place Nashville and five ahead of wild-card playoff leaders Calgary and Arizona in the Western Conference.

Colorado head coach Jared Bednar is already without goalie Philipp Grubauer, centre Nazem Kadri and forwards Matt Calvert and Colin Wilson.

"I think every team's going through it a little bit," Bednar told reporters after his team's third consecutive loss. "But you start racking them up with Grubauer, Kadri, Calvert, now Mikko, our other guys got to step up. It's a great opportunity.

"We have to find a way to carve out wins like we did early in the year. It's going to get tougher and tougher, but hopefully we can get those guys healthy and back to join our team as soon as possible."

Rantanen, who signed a six-year, $55.5-million US contract last summer, set career highs in goals (31), assists (56) and points (87) last season.

Rantanen was a standout in the Stanley Cup playoffs last spring, scoring six goals and 14 points in 12 games. He scored the winning goals in Games 4 and 5 in a first-round Western Conference playoff series against Calgary.

Drafted 10th overall by Colorado in 2015, Rantanen has 99 goals and 250 points in 281 NHL regular-season contests.