The new guy didn’t take long to earn a promotion.
Colorado Avalanche captain Gabe Landeskog made a historic return to NHL action Wednesday night in Game 3 of this 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs opening-round series against the Dallas Stars. It was his first contest at this level after 1,032 days away because of issues with his right knee.
When the Avs reconvened for practice Friday at Ball Arena, Landeskog was bumped up to the second line and to the top power-play unit.
“It’s remarkable, really,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “When you think about the time he’s been away, and then you see the way he played the other night, I thought he was incredible under those circumstances.
“He just has a skill set that we hope to utilize in a bunch of different ways in this series and that’s a credit to him, the work that he’s put in.”
Flipping Landeskog and Jonathan Drouin in both instances looks like it will be the only lineup changes for the Avalanche, which has lost the past two games in overtime to fall behind 2-1 in this best-of-seven series. Other changes the club hopes to make in an effort to regain control against the Stars will come from adjustments.
This has been a very tight series, which was the expectation. Dallas has led for a total of 62 seconds in regulation, but has also found a way to slow down Colorado’s high-powered offense — much in the same way the Stars did a year ago.
The Avs have carried the play at times, more often than the Stars, but Dallas has been more opportunistic and better on the power play in particular. Colorado has led each of the past two games midway through the third period, only to allow a power-play goal to force overtime and then a winner.
Meanwhile, the Avs are just 2 for 13 with the man advantage, including 0 for 6 in Game 3. Colorado has had a power play begin near the end of regulation and carry over into overtime in both losses, but failed to capitalize each time.
“We weren’t great on our breakouts. We weren’t great on our entries,” Bednar said. “We’re too slow to shoot the puck. When we do shoot the puck, there’s not enough traffic. So it really kind of is everything. They looked like they were out of sync (Wednesday) night.”
Enter Landeskog on PP1, who was one of the game’s great net-front power-play players before he missed nearly three years of action. The Avs captain logged 13:16 of ice time in his emotional return.
He played mostly on the third line, but Bednar did shuffle the units around later in Game 3 and he took shifts with both Nathan MacKinnon and Brock Nelson. Landeskog led the team with six hits, but he was also one of the club’s most effective offensive players as well.
When Landeskog was on the ice at 5-on-5, the Avs out-attempted the Stars 19-8, outshot them 7-2 and produced 89.67% of the expected goals. Bednar said there’s no specific minutes restrictions for the captain, and he could easily play a few more minutes in Game 4 if he feels up to it.
“I think there’s some things I need to work on and some things that will come as I continue playing,” Landeskog said. “The beauty of being in a playoffs series like this is you’ve got to jump right in. There’s no time to feel around and see how things are going. You’ve got to adapt on the fly and improve on the fly.
“Right now, for me, every game is super useful. Every shift is super important. For me, I’ve got some fresh game tape to study, and have been doing that. Felt pretty good here and there, made some decent plays. But other than that, there’s a lot of areas to improve on, and that’s a good thing.”
The Avs felt much better about their defensive effort in Game 3. They’ve controlled play for longer stretches, but it hasn’t translated into enough offense. Colorado has led every game in the third period, but only once have the Avs been able to build a multi-goal lead.
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The Avs have played well enough to win all three games, and could very well win the next three. But the Stars are a seasoned title contender as well, and have thrived in this setting against them.
“There’s guys who have been here and have a lot of experience, so they kind of know how to stay even keel,” Avs center Charlie Coyle said. “That’s the bottom line. Can’t ride those waves up and down.
“It’s a long series. We figured it would be a long series. That’s what makes it worth it in the end.”
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