It was an odd day at practice for the Colorado Avalanche. Not because of anything that happened on the ice, but because there really isn’t a ton to talk about at the moment.
With Dallas and Vegas going seven games, the team doesn’t know who their opponent is, and no one seems to know when the next series will start. My best guess is that it will start Tuesday, but that’s just a guess.
Upon arrival, Gabriel Landeskog and Joel Kiviranta were working on their own on a separate sheet of ice from the rest of the team. When it came time to start practice, the Avalanche took over that sheet, while Landeskog and Kiviranta moved to the other sheet. Landeskog wanted to keep working, but the ice crew had other ideas. They needed to Zamboni the ice for when the rest of the team came back over for special teams work. They had a quick chat with the Captain, but that didn’t do anything.
He kept going.
Zamboni’s came out and Landeskog said he’s not done yet. pic.twitter.com/fnQX0qSABi
— Evan Rawal (@evanrawal) May 4, 2024
After pushing himself some more, he came over and joined the rest of the team. Not to practice or anything like that, but be the hype man on the bench.
This coming Friday marks the one year anniversary of Landeskog’s cartilage transplant surgery. I still think it’s highly unlikely he comes back to play this season, but when you see him on days like today, you know just how hard he’s pushing to get back and help his team. The movements he was doing today (not on video) looked pretty intense for the knee, so he’s definitely testing his limits at this point. If he can’t come back this year, having him around the team is the next best thing for everyone.
Speaking of pushing it, the rest of the team went hard for the second straight day. There were no changes to the lines, and Jared Bednar, who didn’t speak on Saturday, got in a lot of 5-on-5 work before switching to special teams. That intensity will keep up until they’ve got a set schedule.
“I think that’s a key, to have a good practice,” Mikko Rantanen said after the skate. “You don’t want to get too happy that we played well and then practice like horse****, because then I think it goes to the games if you don’t practice well.”
Kiviranta didn’t practice with the team, but the time off does give him a few extra days to get healthy for Game One, if he can. Nikolai Kovalenko practiced on that line again, and at one point, went bar down on a…
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