How Gabe Landeskog found his best when the Avs needed it the most

The Captain is back.

Well…maybe.

“I still haven’t had a two-goal game all year,” Landeskog deadpanned to me after morning skate on Wednesday.

While that may be true, the post-All-Star break Landeskog has started to look more and more like the captain Avs fans have come to know and love since he entered the NHL in 2011.

Before the All-Star break, his season had been riddled with inconsistency offensively. While the 21 points in 33 games was far from awful, it was a step back from the production the Avs had gotten the two seasons prior. Through those first 33 games, he was held pointless in 16 outings. Out from October 26 to December 5 with a broken foot, Landeskog had never seemed to find his footing (no pun intended).

The All-Star break appears to have changed things.

In the 17 games since the break, Landeskog has 16 points, and has only been held without a point in four games.

“As far as production, it’s funny how it works,” Landeskog told DNVR. “Sometimes they come in bunches, sometimes you go cold even though you don’t necessarily feel like you’re changing much in your game.”

The jump in production has come at a very important time for the team. Nazem Kadri went down with an injury on February 9th. Matt Calvert went down on February 15th. Mikko Rantanen has been out since February 17th. Andre Burakovsky has played just one game since February 21st. Teams started to hone in on Nathan MacKinnon, holding him to just three assists and no goals before he broke out on Wednesday night.

None of that mattered. With good goaltending, strong defense, and Landeskog leading the way offensively, the Avs won seven straight before their overtime loss to the Ducks on Wednesday at the Pepsi Center.

With Kadri out of the lineup, Landeskog has even turned into the Avs’ face-off specialist, as he’s won 60.4% of his draws since the break. So what changed in Landeskog’s game?

“I think he’s skating better now,” head coach Jared Bednar said about his captain. “Just watching his games over the last little bit, it’s more north/south hockey, more pushing the pace, there’s an element of physicality to his game. Where it can break down for Landy is it gets too east/west and too cute. I view Landy as a skilled power forward and when he’s pushing the pace North and using his legs he’s a big man and hard to handle.”

Like a good Captain, he knows that the jump in production couldn’t have come at a better time.

“Obviously with so many injuries, I guess everyone in the lineup has taken it upon themselves to be better and step up,” Landeskog said. “I’ve tried to do that as well. I’ve tried to be a little more aggressive in the offensive zone and try to attack a little bit more, shoot some more pucks.”

Although MacKinnon has gone through a bit of a cold spell, Landeskog knows that playing with a superstar like that makes his life easier.

“I’m playing the odds a lot of the time and giving him the puck,” Landeskog joked too DNVR. “Easy when you play with a guy like Nate MacKinnon. A lot of defensemen will look to him first and stay tight to him, and it gives you more room, so you have to attack and take advantage of that.”

While I didn’t test my theory on Landeskog about how the first three months with a newborn are easily the most challenging and that may have had an effect on him this season (his uptick in production started around the time his daughter turned three months old), the increased offense just could not have come at a better time.

Landeskog also knows that calvary will be back soon enough.

“No doubt,” he said about some of the injured guys getting back on the ice being a boost. “I went out to dinner last night with Naz and Grubi and it was good to see them again. Sounds like they’re humming along and going pretty good, and obviously Mikko was out there. We’re going to keep this thing going as long as we can and let those guys recover. It’s a lot easier doing recovery work when the team is winning. If you’re hurt and you’re losing, it’s not fun.”

Until then, the Avs will need their captain to keep humming along. And no one knows that more than him.