Milan, ITALY — Avalanche fans had been anxiously awaiting the return of Gabe Landeskog, but this time to captain his homeland of Sweden in the Winter Olympic Games in Milan against host country Team Italy.
Not only did he make his return, but he tallied Sweden’s first goal of the tournament after a shaky start and a surprise one-goal deficit.
Gabe Landeskog was throwing the body on the very first shift of the game, which was almost exactly like his first shift back with the Avs during last year’s playoffs,
with the only difference being he wasn’t checking Mikko Rantanen.
“That’s the only way to get into the tournament and games, yeah,” Gabe said with a chuckle.
There was a bit of unrest when Italy took the early lead on a play where netminder Gustavsson lost his stick and couldn’t make the save on a broken play.
We all wondered for a moment whether this would be another upset like the one we saw between Finland and Slovakia, but Gabe Landeskog quickly gave Sweden fans a reason to exhale.
His one-time blast came with one second left on the power play and set the record straight in this one with his teammates both on the bench and on the ice, letting out a cheer.
“Obviously, it’s exciting to score, but I thought it was just exciting to be out there…” Landeskog said when asked about getting on the board early in the tournament.
It is a little ironic that the first Avalanche player to score in the tournament did so on the power play, given much of the talk about Colorado’s lack of success in the NHL with the man advantage.
Italy wouldn’t go away and started on time in both of the first two periods. Montreal Canadian draft pick Matt Bradley would tie the game at two a side early in the second period. How would Landy and the Swedes respond?
Well, it would take some time and a plethora of shots, but Sweden finally got through on their 40th SOG. Mind you, this 40th SOG came with 3:14 left in the second period.
Either way, Sweden finally got back ahead with Nylander cashing in on the backhand. They wouldn’t look back, finally showing the resolve we expected from Sweden, and the opening-day contest ended 5-2 after Italy had to replace their netminder, and Mika Zibanejad and Victor Hedman scored in the third.
This is just another chapter in the story of Gabe Landeskog’s return to hockey despite sustaining an injury that no one had returned from before. Now he’s scoring the first goal for his country in the first Olympics to host NHL players in 12 years.
Avalanche fan or not, you have to be happy for the person that is Gabe Landeskog and his family.
I asked Gabe Landeskog what it meant to him to be the captain of Team Sweden again after all that he’s been through, and he had this to say:
“It means a lot, no doubt it’s an honor for me. There were definitely times I didn’t know if I was gonna get to play in the Olympics again or wear this jersey, so it’s definitely exciting, and I’m truly. just grateful to be here.”
Let us know what you thought of day one of the Men’s Tournament in the comments!
