It has been a long road back to the ice for Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog, and he returned after dealing with a knee injury for three years in the Avalanche's playoff game against the Dallas Stars on Wednesday. He spoke on how he felt returning to the ice.
“Honestly, I felt pretty good,” Gabriel Landeskog said.
Landeskog was met with loud cheers from Avalanche fans in his return. Ultimately, the Avalanche lost 2-1 in overtime to fall down 2-1 in the series, but Landeskog was still able to reflect on the reaction from the fans.
“It was amazing,” Landeskog said of the fans.
Landeskog continued to voice his appreciation for the Avalanche fans and the support he has had throughout the years dealing with his injury.
“Yeah, Avs faithful, they make it special,” Landeskog said, via Rachel Strand of ClutchPoints. “It's a special place to play, special place to live and raise a family, and obviously, the last three years have been difficult at times, and yeah to come back and feel that love, I mean incredible. So yeah, it means a lot.”
Avalanche captain Gabe Landeskog: "Avs Faithful, they make it special. It's a special place to play, special place to live and raise a family." pic.twitter.com/knfSnfJllb
— Rachel Strand (@MileHighRachel) April 24, 2025
The Avalanche and Landeskog will have to rebound on Saturday at home in Game 4 to avoid falling in a 3-1 hole in the series. In Game 3, Landeskog had 13:16 minutes of ice time, so it will be interesting to see if he can play a similar amount in Game 3.
Oddly enough, the Avalanche have held the lead for the majority of play in this series. They won Game 1 in dominant fashion by the score of 5-1, and then Game 2 was for the most part spent with the Avalanche leading or with the game tied, before the Stars won 4-3 in overtime. In game 3, the Avalanche held a 1-0 lead until about halfway through the third period when the Stars tied it at 1-1 on a Jamie Benn goal. Tyler Seguin then won it in overtime for Dallas.