Avalanche Valeri Nichushkin was suspended for at least six months an hour before the team’s playoff loss

DENVER (AP) The Colorado Avalanche will once again be without top-scoring striker Valeri Nichushkin for the remaining playoffs.

The 29-year-old Russian was suspended without pay for at least six months and placed in Phase 3 of the league’s player assistance program just hours before the Avalanche lost Game 4 of their second-round series to Dallas on Monday night.

It’s the second time this season he’s been in the program. Level 3 means Nichushkin violated the terms of the program, which provides help for everything from mental health issues to substance abuse. Nischuskin will miss at least the remainder of the postseason and the first month of next season.

The National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players’ Association announced the news about an hour before the game began. His teammates heard the news as they arrived on the ice before a lackluster 5-1 loss to the Stars brought them to the brink of elimination. They led 16-2 in the first period and trailed 3-1 in the best-of-seven series.

Game 5 is Wednesday in Dallas. Nichushkin leads the team with nine playoff goals this season.

Details of Nischuskin’s fights were not disclosed. In a first-round playoff series last spring against Seattle, Nichushkin abruptly left the team and missed the final five games of the postseason.

“Val is obviously struggling with something,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “Yeah, it sucks for our team. We have to turn the tide. We have to play much better than we did today. There are still more than 20 people in this room who care and want to win and are here. We have to focus on that. It hurts our team. No question. He’s a great player.”

Bednar wasn’t ready to go that route when asked about whether Nichushkin might have let the team down.

“I got to know Val as a person and him as one of our teammates and I want the best for him,” Bednar said. “I want him to be happy and to be content in his life, whether it’s with our team or not with our team. I want the best for him and his family. I think all our guys are the same. We hope he finds some rest and gets help.”

Stars coach Pete DeBoer echoed those thoughts.

“Humanly speaking, you feel sorry for any athlete who struggles with these issues,” DeBoer said.

Nichushkin was away for nearly two months earlier this season, from Jan. 13 to March 7, receiving care from the NHLPA/NHL Player Assistance Program for undisclosed issues. He was the second Avalanche player to join the program during the regular season, following defenseman Samuel Girard, who said in November that anxiety and depression led to alcohol abuse. Girard returned in mid-December.

Last spring, Nischuskin’s absence began after officials responded to a crisis call at the Four Seasons Hotel in Seattle before Game 3. A 28-year-old woman was in an ambulance when officers arrived, and paramedics were directed to speak with a doctor from the Avalanche team to gather further details.

The report, which The Associated Press obtained from the Seattle Police Department at the time, said the avalanche doctor told officers that team members had found the woman while searching for Nichushkin. The doctor told officers that the woman appeared to be heavily intoxicated and was too intoxicated to have left the hotel “in a rideshare or taxi ride” and asked for emergency medical services to help her.

Before the season, Nichushkin dodged questions about the situation, saying only: “I know you want to find something there, but it’s nothing really interesting. “I think we should close it.”

Asked after the game if he could imagine a scenario in which Nichushkin and the team could reunite at some point, Bednar simply replied, “I have no idea.”

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AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno contributed to this report.

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