Landeskog scores 1st goal in 3 years, Avalanche blank Stars in Game 4 to tie West 1st Round

DENVER -- Gabriel Landeskog scored his first goal in nearly three years, and the Colorado Avalanche shut out the Dallas Stars 4-0 in Game 4 of the Western Conference First Round at Ball Arena on Saturday.

“I've envisioned scoring again for a long time, and then there were obviously days where I didn't know if I was ever going to get to score again,” said Landeskog. “So obviously it feels good. It's a tight playoff series and a big game here at home. To get to do it in front of our fans obviously means a lot. So super exciting. Hopefully more to come.”

Landeskog, who was playing in his second game after returning from a knee injury that kept him out for nearly three years, scored on a slap shot from just above the inside edge of left circle to make it 3-0 at 13:10 of the second period. He also had an assist.

The Colorado captain last scored in a 6-2 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final on June 20, 2022.

“It was kind of more than just a playoff goal. I think it was a life goal. It meant a lot to all of us for him to score a goal, and then he had an assist,” said Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon. “It was just awesome out there. It means a ton to us for him to score that goal at home. That was so cool.

“It’s crazy, honestly. It’s beyond all of our expectations. I was kind of laughing in my head, but he’s like ‘I don't think there's a difference between a month off or three years off. And I was thinking, like ‘Hmm, whatever. OK.’ But he was right. It looks like he's been out for four weeks.”

Mackenzie Blackwood made 23 saves in his first career Stanley Cup Playoff shutout for the Avalanche, who are the No. 3 seed from the Central Division. Brock Nelson had two assists.

“I like the way we've played in this series. We didn't get the result we wanted in Game 2 and Game 3,” said Colorado coach Jared Bednar. "There’s certainly some things in both those games that we could have done better, including Game 1 and at times even tonight.

“The only score that matters is the score at the end of the game. I'm not going to be happy unless we're winning hockey games, but I like a lot of the things we're doing.”

Colorado tied the best-of-7 series. Game 5 is in Dallas on Monday (9:30 p.m. ET; Victory+, ESPN, ALT, SN360, SN, TVAS).

Jake Oettinger allowed three goals on 34 shots before being replaced by Casey DeSmith to start the third period for the Stars, who are the No. 2 seed from the Central. DeSmith made 13 saves in relief.

“We knew they were going to come out with a big push,” Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said. “This is as close to a must-win as you can get for them, and they've lost two in a row and they're a great team. So we knew there was going to be a big push. I actually thought we handled it fairly well in the first.

“We get that first goal, [maybe] something changes, but the short-handed goal obviously is a backbreaker.”

Logan O'Connor scored short-handed to make it 1-0 Colorado at 12:39 of the first period. He bodied Thomas Harley to the ice at his own blue line and skated in on a breakaway before finishing with a wrist shot from the left circle that went short side over the blocker.

“Saw the puck spit out and felt like I could maybe battle it there,” said O’Connor. “Was fortunate to poke it by and saw an opportunity there on the short side and just figured I'd give it a rip and see what happens. I felt really bad after taking a penalty early. Felt like we were rolling pretty good, and it would suck the wind out of us a little bit, so felt like I'd make up for it a bit there.”

MacKinnon extended the lead to 2-0 with a power-play goal at 19:36. He one-timed Devon Toews’ cross-zone pass from the left circle short side off the hip of Oettinger.

“I think when you're doing the right things, you're going to have the crowd behind you,” said defenseman Cale Makar. “When you get a couple big goals and then the crowd’s after it and then when you have some offensive zone pressure. So you got to utilize that home-ice advantage because it only comes every once in a while here.”

After his goal made it 3-0, Landeskog had the secondary assist when Samuel Girard made it 4-0 with a wrist shot from the blue line through traffic that skipped past the leg of DeSmith at 10:46 of the third period.

“There's only one Gabe Landeskog in the world,” said MacKinnon. “That kind of person and player, we missed him. There was a big hole in our room for three years. It’s nice to have him back and it means the world to all of us.”

NOTES: Colorado had its first playoff shutout since Darcy Kuemper in Game 2 of the 2022 Stanley Cup Final (7-0 win against Tampa Bay). … Blackwood (four games) became the fifth goaltender in Avalanche/Nordiques history to get his first postseason shutout within his first four playoff games with the club (Pavel Francouz, one game; Dan Bouchard, three games; Craig Anderson, 3 games; Patrick Roy, three games).