It had been nearly three years – 1,032 days, to be exact – but longtime Avalanche captain Gabe Landeskog didn’t miss a beat.

Unfortunately, the Avalanche’s power play was all but absent from Game 3’s exuberant proceedings, going 0-for-6 and dooming them to a second consecutive, overtime loss to the Dallas Stars. The heartbreaking, frustrating, 2-1 loss means that Saturday’s Game 4 becomes a must-win for Colorado; the sudden desperation coming as a bit of a surprise after the Avalanche routed the Stars in Dallas in Game 1.

Landeskog received a hero’s welcome as he took the ice at Ball Arena, starting the game on the top line with Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Nečas, but spent most of the night on the third line with Charlie Coyle and Joel Kiviranta.

After the loss, Landeskog reflected on the moment that he returned to the ice in front of the Avalanche’s raucous home crowd. “I don’t know exactly what was going through my mind and body at that time, but it was pretty special, and that’s a memory for life,” Landeskog explained. “Simple as that… It’s a special place to play, it’s a special place to live and raise a family. And, obviously, the last three years have been difficult at times. To come back and feel that love? Incredible.”

After upending former teammate Mikko Rantanen with a fierce check only moments into the game, it was evident that Landeskog’s game instincts hadn’t suffered during his lengthy recovery from knee cartilage replacement surgery. The Avs’ captain finished with six hits to lead the team, and looked much like the player he had been over the course of his sterling Colorado career.

Though they didn’t get onto the scoresheet, the trio of Landeskog, Coyle and Kiviranta may have been the Avalanche’s best line all night; limiting the Stars’ chances while generating a fair amount of their own. Colorado head coach Jared Bednar continued to tweak over the course of the game during even-strength matchups, and even though Landeskog found himself on the ice with a plethora of different teammates, he seemed to gain comfort as he went.

Unfortunately for the Avalanche, who led most of the game 1-0 thanks to Valeri Nichushkin’s highlight-reel goal, they once again fell into a frustrating, familiar pattern; overpassing with regularity and playing directly into the Stars’ hands. Dallas head coach Peter DeBoer has his charges well-prepared for the Avs’ propensity to look for the perfect shot, while the Stars play a more effective postseason strategy of flooding the net with shots and chasing after rebounds. Colorado goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood was once again excellent in net, but the Avs’ offense needs to back his steady play with far fewer cross-ice passes and far more shots on net, and his defense needs to be far more responsible in clearing out loose pucks in front of their own net.

Despite not having Norris-caliber defenseman Miro Heiskanen available due to injury, the Stars easily handled the Avalanche’s bumbling power play, which had trouble even generating shots with the man-advantage, leading to an abysmal 0-for-6 performance on the night that undoubtedly cost Colorado for the second game in a row. The Avs, now an atrocious 2-for-13 (15.8%) on the power play in this series, surrendered a game-tying goal in the third period for the second consecutive game, and failed to score on power plays that both ended regulation play and started overtime play for the second consecutive game. Unsurprisingly, they skated off the ice as losers for the second consecutive game, as well – leaving them with no margin for error in Saturday’s Game 4.

Heiskanen, who made the trip to Denver with the Stars, may return for that contest – and if Colorado can’t win it, Landeskog’s return will likely be short-lived, no matter how inspirational it my be.