"You feel like you're letting your team down": Landeskog opens up on injury, expected return

For a team hounded by questions of secondary scoring all season, the Avalanche lost Gabe Landeskog in the final minutes of a game they were shutout in. They responded to the 4-0 loss in Dallas by defying the playoff odds and making a run for the postseason even as their captain sat on the sideline watching.

That time appears have come to an end as Landeskog practiced in full with the Avalanche as they prepare for a titanic matchup against the Arizona Coyotes tomorrow night at Pepsi Center. While Landeskog and head coach Jared Bednar wouldn’t definitively commit to him playing tomorrow night, it’s a fair assumption the biggest game of the season won’t be missed by Colorado’s captain.

“I can only answer for myself,” Landeskog said. “I feel good, I feel great. I guess we’ll find out tomorrow.”

An upper-body injury suffered from a collision with Stars goaltender Ben Bishop on March 7th was originally diagnosed as a six-week injury at best. Three weeks later, here we are. With Bishop getting hurt last night, it’s almost as if the hockey gods drained the energy from one player and gave it to another. Landeskog, for his money, credits the training staff instead of mystical forces.

“I think it just goes to show what kind of training staff we have here,” he said. “The medical guys have done a great job of assessing, at the start, assessing what it was and what we had to do to move forward. We put together a plan and we were grinding away day after day. It sucks, especially this time of year. It sucks being out but we’ve taken it one day at a time and now we’re here. We wanted to be smart and make sure we took care of this the right way. I feel good today. I’m obviously ahead of schedule and that’s always a good thing.”

Being away from the team while they fight for their playoff lives has been difficult but their success without him makes coming back that much easier.

“It’s been awesome,” Landeskog said. “The first few days are tough because you feel like you’re letting your team down, you feel like you’re letting the Avs fans down, and most importantly you’re letting the boys down in here. Once that first few days of frustration passes, then you know it’s back to rehab. I had the pleasure of watching the guys play the last nine games or whatever it was. 6-2-1 or something like that? It’s really put us in a good spot here coming down the last five games.”

With Landeskog set to return, he’s not focusing just on making the postseason. He’s thinking about playing for several more weeks, not just a first-round series and then heading home.

“For me, it’s not only a playoff push but it’s after that, too,” he said. “We’re looking for a long spring here and that’s really what’s been pushing me, what’s been driving me to come back is wanting to come back and wanting to help the team. Especially down here in the spring in April, May, and June and see what we can do. That’s really been a big motivator for me. Watching the guys play and watching hockey on a nightly basis, you want to get back and you’re really itching to get back in the lineup. It’s been tough at times but also been able to keep, most of the time, frustration out of the way. Just been trying to take care of what had to be taken care of and build up strength and get better and now we’re here.”

“Here” is the intersection of good health, a certain level of toughness, and the fate of the season coming down to Friday night’s tilt with the Coyotes. Colorado enters the game two points ahead of Arizona and the tiebreaker between the two teams is on the line Friday night. A Colorado win would put them four points ahead of Arizona with four games remaining for both teams and in possession of the head-to-head tiebreaker, meaning the Coyotes would have to pass the Avs in points instead of relying on any of the other tiebreaker scenarios.

“It’s a big one,” Landeskog said. “I think everybody knows and for us, it’s just making sure we know what’s at stake here and what position we’re in and what position they’re in and what tomorrow can do. We’ve done a good job of putting ourselves in position to make sure this one’s important and we want to make sure everyone is ready to go.”

For a team that hasn’t made the postseason in consecutive years since the mid-2000’s when their current general manager was still their on-ice captain, tomorrow is a big deal. Their current captain is set to return just in time.

Where will he lead them?