CENTENNIAL, Colo. — The Colorado Avalanche wrapped up a successful road trip after going 2–1 and will begin a four game home stand tomorrow. Colorado will fight for points to maintain their third place position in the Central, while the Detroit Red Wings are far out of the playoffs.

On Monday, the Avalanche held their morning practice at Family Sports Center. It was all but an ordinary practice. The local schools are all on spring break, so there was a packed house full of fans. To add to excitement for the little ones, captain Gabriel Landeskog took part in the entire practice and was looking good.

Landeskog not only took part in the entire practice, he was filling in as a defenseman. During the team drills, Landeskog was doing transitions and showed no sign of hesitation. He also took part in a quarter ice drill in which he was doing hard cuts and scored a goal (celebrated with a classic Landeskog fist pump), as the crowd cheered. Samuel Girard’s status is day-to-day with a lower-body-injury per Meghan Angley of Guerilla Sports. Girard did skate in a non-contact sweater before the main group, though. Defenseman Erik Johnson was not at practice at all on Monday morning. Angley reported he had tweaked something and was taking a maintenance day for rest and recovery.

Lines from practice

Drouin – MacKinnon – Nichushkin

Lehkonen – Nelson – Nečas

Kiviranta – Coyle – Colton

Wood – Kelly – O’Connor – Vesey

Toews – Makar

Lindgren – Malinski

Middleton – Landeskog

Blackwood

Wedgewood

No Johnson

If we take anything away from the practice on Monday morning, it is that Landeskog has made a lot of progress. The mood on the ice was one of encouragement and enthusiasm. After we have seen a couple of episodes of the Landeskog documentary, the Avalanche are going to be essential in his recovery as a player and as a person.

Upcoming

The Avalanche will take on the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday, March 25 at 7 p.m. MT at Ball Arena.