Avs head coach Jared Bednar knows Gabriel Landeskog was good in his return

Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar knows Gabriel Landeskog wasn’t the problem in the team’s heartbreaking Game 3 loss on Wednesday night.

In fact, Landeskog was actually pretty good given the fact he hadn’t played in an NHL game in 1,032 days.

The captain was on the ice for a little more than 13 minutes and led the Avalanche in hits with six. He also blocked a shot and spent some time with the second power-play unit.

Of course, Colorado lost the game 2-1 in OT to the Dallas Stars and now finds themselves down 2-1 in the Western Conference quarterfinals.

Bednar met with the media on Thursday and kept it simple in terms of what he thought of Landeskog’s return.

“He was one of our best forwards”

– Bednar on Gabe Landeskog

— Jesse Montano (@jessemontano_) April 24, 2025

That’s high praise from the Avalanche’s head coach, given the forward depth on this team.

Unfortunately, that depth hasn’t showed up quite yet.

Brock Nelson doesn’t have a point in three games in this series. Martin Necas has just one assist. Valeri Nichushkin scored a gorgeous goal in Game 3, but that’s his only point thus far. Charlie Coyle has a single point. And Ross Colton and Miles Wood have only played in one game each, but both were held off the scoresheet.

The reality is the Avalanche are going to need to score more than one goal to beat a team like the Stars, and Jared Bednar seems to know that.

In the meantime, this isn’t a Landeskog problem. He came back and fit in nicely. That’s now the secondary story in this series, with the first being finding out how to win three of the next four contests.

And if not, summer break will start for the Avs before the calendar barely flips to May.

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