Gabriel Landeskog is back and so too are the Avalanche we love

“Hey, Gabe. Welcome back!” I blurted out to Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog as I passed him in the hallway following his team’s thrilling 6-5 overtime win against the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday at Ball Arena.

“Thanks a lot,” Landeskog said with a big smile on his face. He was resplendent in a sharp, dark blue suit with spotless white sneakers, carrying his soon-to-be two-year-old son Luke in his left arm and being playfully dragged along in his right hand was his daughter Linnea adorned in a sparkly 92 jacket.

The Cap is Back!

Landeskog stumbled in recovering from a knee injury that has kept him out the entire season. Away from his Avalanche, he was rehabbing in Toronto and Philadelphia. To see him amongst his club in any capacity felt like a big lift.

Great to have the Captain Gabe Landeskog back! pic.twitter.com/TMxFk9sElJ

— Darren McKee (@DMacRadio) February 20, 2023

“Yeah, it will be nice to have him around. I think all the guys are excited to see him. I was excited. The coaches were excited. Guys will be excited he’s back and working towards a return,” head coach Jared Bednar said about the arrival of the svelte Swede. “It’s helpful (to have him back). It’s another set of eyes, one of their peers, somebody everybody respects. He’s been watching the games. He can share his thoughts. He’s been doing that from a distance but now he’ll be in the room and will be able to talk to the guys on game days and practice days and give his insight on what he’s seeing.”

Perhaps just the presence of Landy gave the Avs the extra incentive they needed to come from behind three times to beat their vanquished western conference final foe from a year ago.

In front of a sold-out matinee crowd, the Avs fell behind 3-0. They then rallied to 3-2, only to give up a soft goal but then quickly responded to make it 4-3. Then again giving up a really soft goal to give the Oilers a 5-3 lead. Only then did the real rally begin behind Nathan MacKinnon.

The Avs alternate captain, MacKinnon, notched two goals and JT Compher who walked away with a four-point contest eventually tied the game at five with less than five minutes to go.

In a fast and furious overtime period, with a scant 22 seconds remaining, Mikko Rantanen deked to his left and found nothing but twine to send the jubilant crowd home in hysteria.

“It was an ugly game,” Bednar laughed in the afterglow. “We did some good things in terms of scoring, but some of the stuff we gave up was ugly. We had a bunch of guys that were really tired and mentally tired.”

Pressed further about actually winning the game despite the clear exhaustion of playing afternoon back-to-back games Bednar did praise the team, “We had some resilience, no question. It’s just one of those nights that it wasn’t near our best. Not from lack of want, but just that we lacked energy which is understandable.”

The Avs showed fire, unlike the soft performance last Tuesday against the Tampa Bay Lightning where they blew a 2-0 and 3-2 lead in regulation, limped through a drab overtime period and succumbed in a lifeless shootout. They dug deep and remarkably played better coming from behind rather than when in the lead.

“I think mental strength and just sticking with it even though we were down three times in the game (helped us win). It’s a mental thing,” Rantanen said with his sweater off but pads still on as he sat exhausted in his locker wiping the sweat from his face. “I think what’s mostly been there is (the inability to) defend the leads in the third. We haven’t been good at that. Pushing when we are down has been ok this year.”

Facing an Oilers team this year that was 11-0 when scoring four goals in the first two periods—4-2 after 2 on Sunday afternoon— who skates the world’s consensus greatest forward in Connor McDavid was a certain recipe for defeat.

However, the Avs displayed the toughness that was well-earned from the scars of last season. It was fitting that several of the Avs dads were in attendance including MacKinnon’s father, Graham, to see their children pull through. Bednar admitted that there was a bigger emphasis on being more aggressive in overtime. The Avs took the extra period loss to Tampa to heart and laid it on the line this week which resulted in an accumulation of a brave 6 out of 6 well-needed points with successive wins against the Wild, Blues and Oilers.

Now the schedule gets wonky again. After four games in six days including two roadies, the Avs have four days until their next match in Winnipeg followed by the return of Nazem Kadri with the Flames in Denver the next day. I sarcastically asked Bednar what he plans to do with all of this AMAZING time off. “One day???” joked a now smiling Bedsy, “yeah I don’t know, relax tomorrow and get back to work Tuesday.”

It’s not all smooth sailing for the Avs. Eric Johnson is out for weeks with a broken ankle. Cale Makar missed another game with a potential head injury. The trade deadline is quickly approaching and the Avs MUST be active to have any shot whatsoever in defending their title, but their latest courageous stint, perhaps fueled by the return of their blonde-haired superstar is worthy of the hope described inspirationally by Swedish super group ABBA,

“Gonna do my very best and it ain’t no lie,
If you put me to the test if you let me try
Take a chance on me
Ba ba ba ba baa,
ba ba ba ba baa”

The Avs have bounced back, collecting 24 points over their last 15 games. In doing so they prove they are worthy of taking the chance of belief and hope of defending the Stanley Cup.

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