Avalanche captain Gabe Landeskog returns to lineup for Game 3 after missing 3 years with knee injury

DENVER (AP) — Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog played out this moment Wednesday night in his mind again and again while working his back.

His return was everything he envisioned, too. The start, anyway, with all the cheers and that big early check to show, without a doubt, that he was indeed up to speed in his first NHL game in nearly three years.

It just didn't have the storybook finish.

Tyler Seguin scored 5:31 into overtime and the Dallas Stars beat Colorado 2-1 in Game 3 to spoil Landeskog's return. Colorado trails 2-1 in the first-round series, with Game 4 on Saturday night in Denver.

“We’ve got work to do as a team and that’s what we’ll do,” Landeskog said. “Nonetheless, it felt great in all areas tonight, in terms of just being back. ... Very special night, regardless of the outcome and looking forward to Saturday already.”

Landeskog started alongside Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Necas. He played 13 minutes and led the team with six hits. His first one, though, made an immediate impression as he hit Stars forward Mikko Rantanen, who's his good friend and former teammate.

It was an emotional lead-up to the game for Landeskog, too. There were the ovations by the crowd, and chants of “Landy, Landy, Landy.” There were signs all over the arena, including one held up by his kids that read, “So proud of you Daddy!”

“That was as close as I got to losing it during warmup, when I looked over at that and seeing their big, smiling faces,” Landeskog said about his family. "They’ve probably been thinking that I’ve been lying this whole time that I play hockey.

“They were 1 and 2 when I last played and now they’re 5 and 4. They’re growing up. We’ve got another one on the way coming this summer. It just puts it in perspective how much time has passed. It’s very special.”

The team showed a video tribute of him as well, with Landeskog tapping his heart in appreciation.

Landeskog made his first NHL appearance since June 26, 2022, when he and the Avalanche beat Tampa Bay to capture the Stanley Cup. He was sidelined because of a chronically injured right knee.

The gap between his games with the Avalanche? Some 1,032 days.

He became the fifth player in NHL history — among those with a minimum of 700 games played — to return to his team after 1,000 or more days without a contest, according to NHL Stats. The last one to do so was longtime Avalanche forward and Hall of Famer Peter Forsberg.

Landeskog's presence on the ice figured to provide a big boost not only for his teammates but the capacity crowd. His No. 92 sweater is a frequent sight around the arena.

The noise in the building was loud, the energy was electric — until the end.

“Everyone is rooting for him. It's a great comeback story,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said Wednesday morning. “I trust in Gabe’s preparation, and what I’m seeing with my own eyes that he’s getting close and ready to play. I think he feels really good about where he’s at.”

Landeskog’s injury goes back to the 2020 “bubble” season when he was accidentally sliced above the knee by the skate of teammate Cale Makar in a playoff game against Dallas. Landeskog eventually underwent a cartilage transplant procedure on May 10, 2023, and has been on long-term injured reserve.

He was activated Monday before Game 2 in Dallas and skated in pregame warmups, but didn't play.

Stars forward Matt Duchene was teammates with Landeskog and they remain good friends.

“We’ve been rooting for him to come back,” said Duchene, who was the third overall pick by Colorado in 2009. "Obviously, it makes our job harder having a guy like that out there, but on the friends side, the human side and the fellow athlete side, I think everyone’s happy to see the progress he’s made. ... I’m just really happy that he’s gotten to this point.”

It doesn't mean the Stars will take it easy on Landeskog.

“It’s remarkable he’s coming back, if he’s coming back, as a friend,” said Rantanen, a 2015 first-round pick by Colorado before being traded in January to Carolina and on to Dallas in March. “As an opponent, obviously, no mercy.”

The feeling is mutual.

“Regardless of what jersey he wears, I love him. He’s a good friend of mine,” Landeskog said of Rantanen. “But in this series, we’re not friends when we’re playing.”

The 32-year-old Landeskog recently went through a two-game conditioning stint with the American Hockey League’s Colorado Eagles. He's practiced with the Avalanche leading up to their opener in the NHL playoffs.

“It’s exciting to have him back in the room and back with us,” Makar said. “Thought he played really well so hopefully he continues that way. He’s definitely big to have back in the room.”

AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Dallas Stars defenseman Thomas Harley, right, checks Colorado Avalanche left wing Gabriel Landeskog in the first period of Game 3 of an NHL hockey first-round playoff series Wednesday, April 23, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Colorado Avalanche left wing Gabriel Landeskog, left, pursues the puck with Dallas Stars defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin in the first period of Game 3 of an NHL hockey first-round playoff series Wednesday, April 23, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Colorado Avalanche left wing Gabriel Landeskog, top, collects the puck as Dallas Stars center Oskar Bäck pursues in the first period of Game 3 of an NHL hockey first-round playoff series Wednesday, April 23, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Family members hold up a placard in support of Colorado Avalanche left wing Gabriel Landeskog as he warms up before the first period of Game 3 of an NHL first-round hockey playoff series against the Dallas Stars Wednesday, April 23, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Fans cheer as Colorado Avalanche left wing Gabriel Landeskog warms up before the first period of Game 3 of an NHL first-round hockey playoff series against Dallas Wednesday, April 23, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

FILE - Colorado Avalanche left wing Gabriel Landeskog (92) skates during the second period of Game 4 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Finals on Wednesday, June 22, 2022, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack, File)

Family of Colorado Avalanche left wing Gabriel Landeskog holds placard as he warms up before the first period of Game 3 of an NHL first-round hockey playoff series against the Dallas Stars Wednesday, April 23, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Colorado Avalanche left wing Gabriel Landeskog stretches before the first period of Game 3 of an NHL first-round hockey playoff series against the Dallas Stars Wednesday, April 23, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Colorado Avalanche left wing Gabriel Landeskog stretches before the first period of Game 3 of an NHL first-round hockey playoff series against the Dallas Stars Wednesday, April 23, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli strikes overnight and into Sunday killed 13 people in the Gaza Strip, mostly women and children, according to local health officials.

Two of the strikes hit tents in the southern city of Khan Younis, each killing two children and their parents, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies. Another five people were killed in strikes elsewhere, according to hospitals.

The Israeli military says it only targets militants and tries to avoid harming civilians. It blames Hamas for civilian deaths in the 19-month-old war because the militants are embedded in densely populated areas. There was no immediate Israeli comment on the latest strikes.

Israel has sealed Gaza off from all imports, including food, medicine and emergency shelter, for over 10 weeks in what it says is a pressure tactic aimed at forcing Hamas to release hostages. Israel resumed its offensive in March, shattering a ceasefire that had facilitated the release of more than 30 hostages.

The U.N. and aid groups say food and other supplies are running low and hunger is widespread.

Children carrying empty bottles raced after a water tanker in a devastated area of northern Gaza on Sunday. Residents of the built-up Shati refugee camp said the water was brought by a charity from elsewhere in Gaza. Without it, they rely on wells that are salty and often polluted.

“I am forced to drink salty water, I have no choice,” said Mahmoud Radwan. “This causes intestinal disease, and there's no medicine to treat it.”

COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of Palestinian civilian affairs, says enough aid entered during a two-month ceasefire this year and that two of the three main water lines from Israel are still functioning. Aid groups say the humanitarian crisis is worse than at any time in the 19-month war.

U.S. President Donald Trump, whose administration has voiced full support for Israel's actions, is set to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates this week in a regional tour that will not include Israel.

The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostage. Fifty-nine hostages are still inside Gaza, around a third of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.

Israel’s offensive has killed over 52,800 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were combatants or civilians. The offensive has destroyed vast areas of the territory and displaced some 90% of its population of around 2 million.

In a separate development, Israel said it retrieved the remains of a soldier killed in a 1982 battle in southern Lebanon after he had been classified as missing for more than four decades.

The recovery of Sgt. 1st Class Tzvi Feldman’s remains brought more closure to a case that has plagued Israel for years. The Israeli military said his remains were recovered from deep inside Syria, without providing further details.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Feldman’s surviving siblings on Sunday and told them that the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar Assad late last year led to an “opportunity” that allowed the military and the Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, to gather additional intelligence and eventually locate and retrieve the body, according to video released by his office.

Feldman went missing, along with five other Israeli soldiers, in a battle with Syrian forces in the Lebanese town of Sultan Yaaqoub. Several years later, two of the missing soldiers were returned alive to Israel in prisoner exchanges with Syria. The remains of another soldier were returned in 2019, after Russia said it had helped locate them in Syria, while the fate of the other two remained unknown.

Cases of soldiers missing for decades have a powerful emotional and political resonance in Israel, where military service is compulsory for most Jewish men.

Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writer Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Palestinians carry the bodies of those who were killed in an overnight Israeli airstrike, during their funeral in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Sunday, May 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians carry the bodies of those who were killed in an overnight Israeli airstrike, during their funeral in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Sunday, May 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Mohannad Al-Agha, holds body of his niece Zeina Al- Agha, 2, killed in an overnight Israeli airstrike, during her funeral at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Sunday, May 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians mourn their relatives who were killed in an overnight Israeli airstrike, at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Sunday, May 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)