DENVER (AP) — The Colorado Avalanche will be without standout defenseman Cale Makar for Game 2 of the Western Conference Final on Friday night because of an upper-body injury.
Makar, who also sat out Game 1, went through different skating and shooting drills Friday morning ahead of the game against Vegas before coach Jared Bednar ruled him out. The Golden Knights lead the series 1-0 after a 4-2 win.
“It hurts when you don't have Makar, but every team is going through (injuries),” Bednar said, pointing out that Vegas has been missing captain Mark Stone. “Our goal is to be the best version of ourselves we can be tonight, and that’s without Cale, and so be it. I still think we’re capable of winning the hockey game if we’re better than we were the other night.”
Makar appeared to be banged up in Game 5 last week as the Avalanche closed out their second-round series with Minnesota. He left the ice holding his right arm but later returned. He also briefly departed Game 1 after taking a hit along the boards, with his right leg flying into the air before he fell to the ice.
Bednar declined to say who would fill in for Makar. It could be Jack Ahcan again or possibly Nick Blankenburg, who was acquired from Nashville in March. Alex Gagne also remains a possibility.
Makar has four goals and an assist while averaging nearly 25 minutes of ice time through the opening two rounds. The Norris Trophy finalist also factors heavily into the Avalanche's special teams.
Any mental aspects to not having Makar on the ice for a crucial game?
“I don't think when you're playing you can think about it. I think that's a hindrance," Avalanche defenseman Josh Manson said. "Going into it, obviously, you hope he's playing. I don't think anybody can ever stand up here and say, ‘Oh, I hope he’s not playing.'
"I mean, he's a generational player. I don't think you want to think about it. I think you've just got to keep playing.”
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Colorado Avalanche center Nazem Kadri (91), left, celebrates with defenseman Cale Makar (8) after scoring a goal during the second period of Game 4 in an NHL Stanley Cup hockey second-round playoff series against the Minnesota Wild Monday, May 11, 2026, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Hundreds of Ukrainians marched through the capital Friday to demand that the government repeal a recent law that families of missing soldiers say could lead to their loved ones being prematurely declared dead.
The protesters gathered to oppose legislation passed in February on the legal status of missing persons that critics say allows courts to declare missing Ukrainian military personnel legally dead before their fate has been fully confirmed.
“Today all the families came out so that the missing are not equated with the dead,” said Mariana Yatselenko, 27, who took part in the Kyiv march.
More than 90,000 people are listed as missing in Ukraine’s unified registry of persons who disappeared under special circumstances, according to Artur Dobrosierdov, the country’s commissioner for missing persons.
Neither Russia nor Ukraine publish regular casualty numbers in the war, although analysts estimate hundreds of thousands of casualties in the fighting.
The Ukrainian register covers people who went missing during combat, as a result of armed aggression or in occupied territories, mostly after Russia’s all-out invasion began on Feb. 24, 2022. But some cases date back to 2014, when Russian soldiers invaded the Crimean Peninsula and pro-Russia forces started fighting in eastern Ukraine.
The registry began operating in May 2023, and at that point, information about both military personnel and civilians from previous years was entered into it.
Similar demonstrations have been held previously over the issue.
Ukrainian drones hit a college dormitory building in Starobilsk, a city in Ukraine’s Russia-occupied Luhansk region, killing six people and wounding 39 others, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. He added that another 15 remain missing as emergency workers are clearing the debris.
Speaking at a meeting with war veterans in Moscow, Putin denounced the attack on the dormitory as a “crime” and ordered the military to submit its proposals for retaliation. He noted that there were no military or law enforcement facilities near the college.
Ukrainian officials made no immediate comment on the attack.
The Russian Defense Ministry on Friday said that it intercepted 217 Ukrainian drones over multiple Russian regions, including the Moscow region and St. Petersburg, the country’s second-largest city.
For the fourth time this month Ukraine struck Russia’s Yaroslavl oil refinery, around 700 kilometers (440 miles) from the border, in an overnight operation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday.
Ukraine has been pounding Russian oil facilities in an effort to deny Moscow funding for its invasion.
U.S.-led diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting have brought no significant results and recently appeared to peter out.
“They were not fruitful, unfortunately,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said of negotiations over the past year with Russia and Ukraine.
No talks are happening now, he said during a trip to Sweden, although they could resume if Washington sees an opportunity for progress.
Ukraine’s air force said that it shot down or jammed 115 of 124 Russian drones that were launched overnight, in regular bombardments of civilian areas that in recent months have escalated.
Russian attacks across the northern Sumy region wounded 11 people, including a child, the National Police said. Also, a Russian drone killed a man in the city of Kherson in southern Ukraine, according to the region’s military administration chief.
The number of Ukrainian civilian casualties verified by the United Nations increased by 21% in the first four months of this year, compared with the same period last year, with 815 civilians killed and 4,174 wounded.
In Washington, the Trump administration approved a modest $108 million arms sale to Ukraine that will help the country sustain its midrange air defense missile system.
The U.S. State Department announced the sale of ground-to-air Hawk missile components, spare parts and logistic support late Thursday. Under U.S. President Donald Trump, Washington has slashed military support for Ukraine.
On the battlefield, Ukrainian counterattacks have driven the Russian army out of more than 400 square kilometers (150 square miles) of southern Ukraine since the end of last year, Western analysts say.
Those successes are attributed to Ukraine’s increasingly homegrown drone and missile technology, as well as Russian forces being denied access to Starlink satellite services used to steer drones toward targets.
Zelenskyy said that Russia could be planning new attacks on northern Ukraine, launched from Belarus.
Moscow “is eager to draw (Belarus) deeper into this war,” Zelenskyy said on social media, warning that “there will be consequences” for the Belarusian government, if it provides a platform for strikes on Ukraine.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha alerted allies at a NATO meeting in Sweden about what Ukrainian intelligence services say are growing threats from Belarus. Sybiha urged partners to take unspecified deterrence measures against Minsk.
Russia and Belarus held joint nuclear exercises earlier this week.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, underscored “Russia’s ability to leverage Belarus for future Russian military operations and Russia’s deepening de facto control over Belarus.”
Matthew Lee in Washington, and Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal, contributed to this report.
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Women hold a banner with portrait of their relative during a rally of families of missing soldiers in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
A woman holds a banner with the portrait of her relative during a rally of families of missing soldiers in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
In this image taken from video released by Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service Telegram channel on Friday, May 22, 2026, Rescuers work at the side of a college dormitory building damaged by Ukrainian drones in Starobilsk, Ukraine. (Russian Emergency Ministry Press Service via AP)
A woman looks at a makeshift memorial for fallen soldiers in Russia Ukraine war on Independence Square in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
