"Physically, I feel great," Gabriel Landeskog Ends Successful Weekend Series with a Goal and Assist
Gabriel Landeskog takes the ice for warmups with the Colorado Eagles ahead of their match against the Henderson Silver Knights. Image courtesy of Colorado Eagles (Jessica Butterly).Loveland, Colo. - After 1,020 days of rehabilitation and constant mental preparation, Gabriel Landeskog returned to the ice for a professional hockey game.
Both nights, Blue Arena housed a sold-out crowd for Landeskog's return to professional hockey. Fan Appreciation weekend was taken to new heights as the home crowd celebrated the Colorado Eagles' last home games of the regular season in a big way.
In his first game since June of 2022, Landeskog played just shy of 15 minutes in 15 total shifts. He didn't find the scoresheet on Friday, but in talking with the media for the first time since his last game appearance, he still considered it a massive success.
It felt great. Obviously [had] some nerves going into it...[During] the on-ice warmup, I was trying to figure out where- what did I used to do again? What was my routine? But I was just trying to enjoy it, too. Like, get out there and enjoy it, get into the game. 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.
The "fun" of it all emanated from him all night, from his arrival from the parking lot to warm-ups to his trip to the penalty box during his third shift to his postgame interview. He wore a smile for the better part of the night.
It was awesome. I mean, I've been thinking about this for a long time and envisioning this and envisioning being in a competitive hockey game again. Obviously, there were times where I didn't know if it was ever going to happen, so it felt great being in the battle again and on the bench, in the room, on the ice, all of the nuances of a hockey game. It's really fun being back.
In those 15 minutes, which he did mention was "a little more than I was expecting to play," he found himself in some situations he hasn't exactly been privy to in his skates with his own teammates.
"It felt good [taking and making contact]. Obviously, those are things that you can't really replicate in practice or it's hard to draw up drills that are completely live. I wasn't exactly sure how it was going to react and how it was going to feel, but it felt really good. I try to get involved, I tried not to be stupid by any means and go too crazy, but I try to get involved physically as well and it was fun. It felt good. The headlock wasn't necessarily planned when I woke up this morning, but [it's] a part of the game.
The Colorado Avalanche and Colorado Eagles announced on Saturday morning that Landeskog would also skate in Saturday's game, finishing off the back-to-back series and getting a second game out of his conditioning stint in Loveland.
Playing in back-to-back nights seemed like a big test for the 32-year-old, but seeing that he ended the night with two points (1 goal, 1 assist on John Ludvig's 3rd-period goal), it turned out to be a success in the highest form.
I think yesterday, there was a lot going on, just a lot of emotions, a lot of excitement, a lot of things around the game itself, a lot of people here, and just a lot yesterday. So, it was hard for me to focus on my game and it was the first in a long time, but I was excited to get back out here today and get another crack at it and make some adjustments to my game and - [it was] kind of a different feeling today of just being able to get into that flow state, I guess, and just stay in the moment and play, focus on what I had to do and not too much on the outside. So, tonight was really fun and I felt a lot better than yesterday in terms of timing and touches and things like that. It's not anywhere near where I want it to be but I think it's a good step in the right direction.
There's still a lot to focus on, still many things Landeskog wants to correct, but being able to contribute and come out of back-to-back games feeling good physically as well as confident in his game coming back into things is certainly a step in the right direction.
The Colorado Eagles head on the road this week to finish the rest of their regular season on the road. They'll be in Ontario, California on Wednesday to face the Ontario Reign (Los Angeles Kings AHL affiliate). It is unclear whether or not Landeskog will travel with the group to finish out his three-game conditioning stint on the road.