LOVELAND, Colo.— Blue Arena was electric for the second time this weekend. After Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog made his AHL debut yesterday, the crowd flooded in for another glimpse of his performance.

No doubt he was sore after last night’s 2–0 victory over the Henderson Silver Knights (VGK). The true test was going to be how he held up in a back-to-back run.

The rematch against the Silver Knights was more intense than the previous bout, with the competition netting their only three goals of the match.

However, there were two notable highlights. All night, the Eagles were attempting to feed a shot to Landeskog. Their first successful attempt, Landeskog notched his first assist on John Ludvig’s goal. As cheers of “Landy, Landy, Landy” rang across the arena, he did what seemed only out of a dream: he scored.

Takeaways

The Eagles are still in pursuit of the Pacific Division title. With a victory over Henderson, they would only need one more point to secure it.

Unfortunately, the performance on the ice left much to be desired until late in the third period. The opposing netminder, Carl Lindbom, has not posted good numbers on the year, yet offensively, there was trouble.

Kevin Mandolese, normally a solid goalie, faced a lot of challenges. He allowed three goals on only nine shots before Trent Miner stepped onto the scene. After the net takeover, the Eagles held Henderson to only three goals.

Until late in the third period, it appeared Colorado would fall short of the mark. They were down 3–1, and the team lost steam.

Landeskog’s assist brought the team within one. Only three minutes later, he found the back of the net, marking the tying goal.

“Our guys are aware when he’s on the ice,” head coach Aaron Schneekloth said. “There’s no question. But he’s the intelligence of him as a player, getting in situations to get the puck. I didn’t feel like our guys were focused on just finding him and finding him. I thought we did a nice job of just trying to create some chemistry as a line, the guys out there, and obviously they got a lot of minutes tonight together on the power play. So there’s a lot of open communication and dialog between him and our and the teammates. I mean, that’s about as loud as I’ve seen this building get when he scored. So it was fun to be a part of and great to see.”

The energy in the arena radiated, and it pushed the team forward into overtime, and eventually into a shootout victory. Every win counts, especially when the team is fighting to stay ahead of the Abbotsford Canucks (VAN). With two more points added to the win column, they are only one point short of clinching the division title.

After the game, Landeskog reflected on the emotions he experienced after the exhaustion of his first appearance.

“I mean, obviously you’re coming down off an incredible high, adrenaline’s pumping, and you’ve just been back in in an atmosphere that you haven’t been in for a long time,” he said. “So, it takes a little bit to calm down and come back to it. I was awake for a little bit last night, trying to fall asleep. Obviously a lot of thoughts going through my head, but had a good sleep and excited to get back to it this morning. I went to my son’s baseball practice, and that’s just the best part of having kids, is just being there for them and being a dad and getting to see see that part of it, and then, and then come to work tonight. So I was really excited and nice to take my mind off of what was going to happen tonight, too.”

Upcoming

The Eagles will hit the road on Wednesday to take on the Ontario Reign. It is unknown if Landeskog will join them or if he will head to Denver to work with the Avalanche. Games can be streamed on FloHockey.com.

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