Gabe Landeskog on long-awaited Avalanche return: “Memory of a lifetime”

Children can make you wonder where the time s gone That s why when Gabe Landeskog looked at his kids in the stands during warm-ups on Wednesday night he almost broke down The Avs captain who hadn t played in nearly three years due to issues with his right knee made his NHL comeback in Championship of the Avalanche s first-round series against the Dallas Stars at Ball Arena And as Dad warmed up for his first NHL tournament in days Landeskog s two children Linnea and Luke held up a sign that read So proud of you Daddy That was as close as I got to losing it during warm-ups is when I looked over at them and saw their big radiating faces stated Landeskog who at one point skated over to the glass and flipped his kids a puck That was very special They likely have been thinking that I ve been lying this whole time that I play hockey Tonight I revealed them that I really do They were and when I last played and now they re and and growing up and we ve got another one coming on the way this summer It puts it in perspective how much time has passed Colorado fell - to Dallas in a second straight gut-punch OT defeat swinging the momentum of the first-round playoff series decisively in the Stars favor But Landeskog s performance was a silver lining for the gang and the stunned fans filing out of a quiet Ball Arena No led all players with six hits including one on friend and former teammate Mikko Rantanen less than seconds into the battle He also blocked a shot won a faceoff and had a limited nice passes in the offensive zone amid of ice time The Avs anemic power play for including squandering a four-minute double minor at the end of regulation and OT cost them but Landeskog s physicality and the emotional bump he provided couldn t be overlooked He was physical right away and involved right away in a lot of different aspects of our competition Avs head coach Jared Bednar explained I was pleasantly surprised with the poise he presented with the puck and being able to make plays It s happening fast There s not a lot of room for acclimation But he looked pretty relaxed and made a lot of plays for us tonight The crowd chanted Landy at the captain during warmups and then again at the beginning of the event as he started on the first line opposite Rantanen When the first TV timeout rolled around the association played a video tribute to him from Avs faithful prompting Landeskog to raise his stick toward the crowd in acknowledgement Then a white banner proclaiming Welcome Back Cap was unfurled from the second level of the arena Avs faithful they made it special Landeskog declared Regardless of the outcome of the contest that was a memory of a lifetime for me Defenseman Cale Makar echoed Bednar s sentiment assessing that Landeskog played really well in his return The forward played two tune-up games with the AHL Colorado Eagles earlier this month and commented he still has plenty to get better at in order to provide more of an impact I felt pretty good speed-wise legs physically I felt good he noted It s still only my third battle so I ve got a lot of things to improve on in terms of my timing seeing the right plays executing them That s one of the positives is there s a lot of areas of improvement I think every event I ll continue to get better A giant hammer unfurled welcoming back Colorado Avalanche left wing Gabriel Landeskog during a tribute for him in the first period of event three of the first round of the NHL playoffs against the Dallas Stars at Ball Arena in Denver on Wednesday April Photo by Andy Cross The Denver Post