Gabriel Landeskog received a special honour in his first game back with the Colorado Eagles
Photo credit: NHL.com
Gabriel Landeskog recent made his return to the ice after a long time away, Colorado Avalanche fans couldn't be more thrilled, and he has now received a major honor with the Eagles in the AHL.
Gabriel Landeskog's long awaited return has finally came, and what better time than before the start of the NHL 2024-25 playoffs?
Concerns loomed though, would the 32-year old longtime veteran suffer a setback by playing in the AHL, which is known as a rough-and-rugged league?
Landeskog handled it quite well, and also in front of his beloved teammates.
«Physically, I feel great. Obviously, it's the first game in a long time, so I got plenty of things to work on and get better at, but it was a lot of fun,» Landeskog said. «Obviously, some nerves going into it, and I said out there in the interview on the ice that [during] on ice warm up I was trying to figure out 'What did I used to do again? What was my routine?' But I was just trying to enjoy it too, right?»
The game was a huge milestone for 'Landy', as it was his first time taking place in an actual game since June 26th, 2022.
That was 1,021 days ago, and now he's ready to go to war with his teammates.
«It was awesome. I've been thinking about this for a long time, and envisioning this and envisioning being in a competitive hockey game again, and obviously, there were times where I didn't know if that was ever going to happen,» he said. «I was trying to do some visualizing before tonight and just calm myself down. I knew it wasn't going to be a problem to get energized for this one and get up for it. So if anything, I just had to kind of calm my nerves a little bit and do kind of my breathing routine and whatnot, just to settle myself down. But I just went out there and tried to enjoy every second of it, and I did."
Landeskog certainly put on a solid performance, and earned himself player of the game. Have a look at the awesome celebration:
It was all all smiles after Landeskog's debut with the Colorado Eagles!
As the season is quickly coming to an end, Avalanche fans are beginning to become anxious for day 1 of playoffs, which is set to take place on April 19th.
Let's go Avalanche!
Previously on Avalanche Insider
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 12 | 89 ANSWERS Gabriel Landeskog received a special honour in his first game back with the Colorado Eagles Do you think Landeskog's returning could make a big impact on their Stanley Cup winning hopes? | ||
| Yes | 71 | 79.8 % |
| No | 18 | 20.2 % |
| List of polls | ||
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