Hobbled Nathan MacKinnon, Colorado Avalanche face 3-0 hole - ESPN

The Stanley Cup-favorite Colorado Avalanche are one loss away from being swept out of the Western Conference Final by the Vegas Golden Knights. Their superstar center Nathan MacKinnon was hobbled after blocking a shot in their Game 3 loss, in which they blew a 3-0 lead. On top of all that, history is very much not on their side for a miracle rally.

«It's as low as it can get,» coach Jared Bednar said after watching his team fumble a three-goal lead in a 5-3 Game 3 loss.

Only four teams in NHL history have rallied after losing the first three games of a best-of-seven series. Teams that take a 3-0 series lead in a best-of seven series in the round before the Stanley Cup Final are 49-0, including 13-0 when starting on the road with two straight wins.

«You've got a big hill to climb. You've got to find a way to get over it and regroup,» Bednar said.

The climb got steeper when MacKinnon, the team's Hart Trophy finalist and leading playoff scorer (15 points in 12 games), was injured with 7:54 left in the second period when he blocked a slapshot off the stick of Knights defenseman Shea Theodore in the Colorado defensive zone. The puck appeared to hit off MacKinnon's left leg as he fell to the ice.

At first, he didn't come out for the third period before joining the Colorado bench around three minutes into the frame. He took one shift during a 4-on-4 and then took part in a Colorado power play and when the Avalanche pulled goalie Scott Wedgewood in search of the tying goal. He wasn't skating with any intensity, and ultimately just too four shifts in the third.

«Obviously, we might have to kill him to get him off the ice. It's just the kind of the person he is and the competitor he is,» Wedgewood said. «He wants to win more than