Landeskog Reaches 500 Career Points in Typical Fashion

Gabriel Landeskog has made his office in the NHL in the front of opposing goaltenders and has become one of the best in the league with scoring on redirections.
He tallied his 16th goal of the season on Sunday doing just that and also added two assists to reach 500 career points as the Colorado Avalanche won 4-1 versus the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center.

The Avs captain's marker came during a 5-on-3 power play in the second period, as he deflected Nathan MacKinnon's one-timer from the slot just enough for the puck to get past goaltender John Gibson and hit net. According to NHL Stats, it was the 39th tally of Landeskog's career that has come via a tip or deflection.

"One of the areas in the last couple years that he's really improved on--and it was already a strength of his--was his net-front play and net-front presence and being able to pick up goals, whether it is rebounds, deflections," said head coach Jared Bednar of Landeskog. "He adds so much to our team, he plays in so many different areas and helps on draws on the left on that line, does a lot of heavy lifting with the forecheck and he'll play down low in D-zone coverage. He's got a well-rounded game and is a huge part to our team."
The left wing added assists on tallies from Ryan Graves and Nathan MacKinnon in the final six minutes of the afternoon affair in Southern California to help Colorado pull away from Anaheim and secure its third victory of the four-game road trip. Landeskog also won 5-of-9 faceoffs, had two shots and a plus-2 rating.
It was his fifth outing of the season with three or more points and his 26th such contest in his 672-game career.
The Stockholm, Sweden, native is the fifth player in Avalanche history (since 1995-96) and the eighth all-time in the franchise's annals to reach 500 career points, and he is the 29th NHL player from his home country to reach the milestone.
Selected No. 2 overall by the Avalanche in the 2011 NHL Draft, Landeskog is the second skater from his draft class to reach the half-century mark, joining the Tampa Bay Lightning's Nikita Kucherov (547 points).
"He has a lot of strengths to his game. I think consistency has improved in the time that I've been here," Bednar said of his captain. "I think what I notice about him is that he's an unselfish, team-first guy. He's going to be committed to your team game, and he's going to help sell your team game. If you're going to talk and lead the way that Gabe has to and does, then you have to be willing on a nightly basis to back it up and that's what his play does. He's consistent, he's always in-tune with what we're talking about in pregame, the game plan, managing the puck, playing hard in all areas."
As for his deflection goal, it ended up being the game-winner, the 37th of his career and seventh of the season. He is tied for third in the NHL in game-winning goals in the 2020-21 campaign and is just two off league leader Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs (nine).

J.J. HAVING FUN IN THE SUN

Jonas Johansson started in goal for the second straight game and nearly produced consecutive shutouts.
He stopped 24-of-25 shots in the win and improved to 3-0-1 in five appearances with Colorado. The only puck to get past him came on an outside shot that changed directions after caroming off an Avalanche player's body.
"It's definitely a good feeling. I've been fighting for quite a few years to get to this point, and right now I'm staying in the moment and doing the best that I can to," Johansson said. "We'll have to summarize after, but it's a good feeling but we got more work to do."
Johansson stopped 52 of the 53 total shots he faced in the two-game set against the Ducks. It was the first time that he had started back-to-back games with Colorado and marked the third straight contest that he had appeared in after also coming in relief on Wednesday at the Minnesota Wild.
"As far as JJ going back into goal, we kind of decided after the game the other night that it would probably be the best decision to give [Philipp Grubauer] a little rest," said head coach Jared Bednar.
"He had a great night again. It looks like he's getting better and better every game for us."
Acquired in a trade with the Buffalo Sabres on March 21, Johansson started a career-high three games in a row for the Sabres from March 7-11.
Devan Dubnyk was the backup goalie for Sunday's contest, giving Grubauer a full day to mentally rest. The Avs picked up Dubnyk in a trade with the San Jose Sharks on Saturday.

MONDAY VS. ARIZONA

Colorado concludes it seventh back-to-back set of the season on Monday at home against the Arizona Coyotes. It will be the final meeting of the year between the Avs and Yotes.
Grubauer will start in goal in the contest after not dressing for the first time this season on Sunday.
"We've been looking to try and give him some rest, give him the day off mentally and physically," Bednar said of Grubauer. "He had a couple days and today with the addition of Dubnyk, it allowed Grubi to not have to think of the game and get a little bit of a mental break as well."
The Avalanche now owns a total record of 9-1-3 in games that are part of a back-to-backs series this year. The team is 6-1-0 in the first game after Sunday's win and presently owns a 3-0-3 record in the second.

MACKINNON STREAKING

Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and an assist on Sunday to stretch his point streak to nine games. It's the longest active streak in the NHL and the longest by an Avalanche player this season, as Mikko Rantanen had an eight-game run from March 12-25.
MacKinnon, who also has assists in four straight contests, now has six markers and nine helpers during his current point streak.
"I just think he's dialing up his 200-foot game, and he's making plays," Bednar said of MacKinnon. "Tonight, he went to the net hard, he gets rewarded at the end of the game. Makes a nice play on the power play moving it around. I thought Gibson robbed him a couple times on some nice shots that he had, especially on the flank one-timer that he had on the power play before we had scored. So just sticking with it, shooting the puck, you know, doing what Nate does."
The Avs center has 28 points (11 goals and 17 assists) in his last 17 games, the most among any player in the NHL since March 12. MacKinnon leads the club with 50 points (16 goals, 34 assists) in 36 games, his sixth-straight season that he's reached the half-century mark in scoring.
MacKinnon is the sixth player in the NHL this season to reach 50 points and first to do so from the West Division.

SEE YOU IN DENVER, NEMO

Head coach Jared Bednar said on Saturday that the plan is for Patrik Nemeth to meet the team in Colorado on Monday or Tuesday, but the defenseman might not make his debut until Wednesday's game at the St. Louis Blues.
Nemeth was acquired in a trade with the Detroit Red Wings on Friday afternoon. He played two seasons for the Avs from 2017-2019 after being claimed off waivers from the Dallas Stars just prior to that first campaign.

MORE POSTGAME NOTES

The Avalanche became the first team in the NHL to reach 60 points this season, the fastest Colorado squad to reach 60 points (41 games). The Avs matched the franchise mark for the quickest to reach 60 points set by the 1994-95 Quebec Nordiques.
The Avalanche wrapped up its four-game road trip, finishing 3-1-0 on the journey. Colorado is 11-5-2 on the road so far this season, tied with the Washington Capitals for the second-best road winning percentage (.667) in the league. Only the Toronto Maple Leafs (.763) have a better away win percentage.
Colorado and Anaheim wrapped up their eight-game season series, as the Avalanche finished 6-1-1 against the Ducks.
The Avs surrendered just one total goal in the final two games against Anaheim and surrendered two or fewer marker in five of the eight contests of the series. Colorado's 2.32 average goals against per game is tied with the New York Islanders for the second best in the NHL.
Goaltender Jonas Johansson finished with 24 saves and now has wins in each of his last three starts. He recorded a career-best shutout streak of 124:41 that was snapped by Anaheim's third-period tally.
Cale Makar notched an assist for his 24th helper of the season. His 0.97 points-per-game average leads all NHL defensemen.
Devon Toews finished with a plus-2 rating and is now plus-24 this season, ranked second in the league.