The hockey gods finally answered and allowed Gabriel Landeskog to keep a goal. It’s technically the captain’s third time finding the back of the net, but it’s the first to count.
Sam Malinski ripped a shot from the blueline, breaking his stick in the process. Valeri Nichushkin grabbed it and shot it — Anaheim Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal made the stop. His rebound was grabbed by Landeskog, who put it away at 8:23 in the second period.
Landeskog’s goal gave the Avalanche the 2-1 lead against the No. 2 team in the Western Conference. The crowd erupted when the goal was announced, followed by chants of “Landy.”
“It was nice to move on. I think it’s my second-longest goal drought in my career. So it was nice to just be done with it.
“I’ve tried to just focus on my game and what I do, on a shift-to-shift basis, and the outcome is what it is. I try not to focus on the outcome, just kind of surrender that and focus on what I can do on a shift-to-shift basis. But having said that, obviously you’d like to go home and know that you at least got one on the score sheet, and then move forward with it. So my son will be happy in the morning when he wakes up to the news,” Landeskog said after the win.
He scored a goal against the Dallas Stars in last season’s playoffs, but his last regular-season goal was on March 5, 2022.
The Avs forward scored against the Utah Mammoth on Oct. 21, but it was waived off due to an offside call. He got one past Edmonton Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner on Saturday night, but once again, called back.
The 32-year-old forward has been due, and he was finally rewarded for his efforts. And it happened to be the game winner.