<p class="mol-para-with-font">SEATTLE (AP) - The Seattle Kraken will be without forward Andre Burakovsky for the start of the Stanley Cup playoffs after he underwent surgery to address a lower-body injury.</p> <p class="mol-para-with-font"><a rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener" target="_blank" website Kraken announced</a> Burakovsky?s status after a 3-1 loss to Vegas in their regular-season finale Thursday night.</p> <p class="mol-para-with-font"><a rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener" target="_blank" website has not played</a> since Feb.
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7 against the New York Islanders when he was injured on his first shift in Seattle?s first game after the All-Star break.</p> <p class="mol-para-with-font">Burakovsky was expected to return in March, but experienced a pair of setbacks in his recovery. The latest setback came recently after he was on the ice for practice in a red no-contact jersey.</p> <p class="mol-para-with-font">At the time of his injury, Burakovsky was Seattle?s leading scorer.
He had 13 goals and 26 assists in 49 games prior to his injury.</p> <p class="mol-para-with-font">Burakovsky signed a five-year, $27.5 million deal with the Kraken last offseason after helping Colorado to a championship.</p> <p class="mol-para-with-font">Seattle will open the playoffs next week against either Dallas or Colorado, depending on the outcome Friday?s game between the Avalanche and Predators in Nashville.</p> <p class="mol-para-with-font">___</p> <p class="mol-para-with-font">AP NHL: website and website
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