LAS VEGAS — Eight wins to tie a bow on three years of rehabilitation.
That is all that stood between Gabe Landeskog and an ending that would make Disney executives blush.
This was going to be the bookend chapter for one of the most respected athletes in Colorado sports history. Landeskog, 33, was not going to retire, but he was going to be remembered for this second act forever.
The Captain. And the Cup. Again.
Instead, the clock struck midnight and the valet brought the keys back to a pumpkin.
The Avs became a group of falling stars, going splat and getting swept by the Golden Knights in an unspeakably awful series.
A week ago, the Avs believed they could win another championship. Now, it is fair to wonder if they blew it with this group.
“I mean, you never know if you’re ever going to get the chance again. I think that’s what hurts, right?” Landeskog, always accountable, said in the visiting locker room after the 2-1 Game 4 loss. “Like, it’s hard making the playoffs, and it’s hard winning one round and two rounds, and let alone going all the way, so never know what the next opportunity is going to kind of look like and present itself looking like, but I think for us, believing in this group, believing in the guys that we have in this organization and that will give ourselves the best chance possible year after year.”
In a series that somehow featured no goals from Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Martin Necas and Brock Nelson, Landeskog carried his weight. He scored three times, including the lone goal on Tuesday night with 2:03 remaining in the game.
Predictably, Landeskog, a captain for 14 years, took zero solace in his performance.
The Avs began the season on a Stanley Cup-or-bust wagon. Becoming only the seventh No. 1 seed to be swept is not how anyone in the organization expected this season to end.
“Yeah, it’s empty, there’s no other way to describe it, really. Yeah, felt good about our team, still do, but you got to give these guys credit on the other side,” Landeskog said. “They’re good, played hard, Carter Hart, heck of a goalie, heck of a series, so, but yeah, you go from being in the battle and all of a sudden the buzzer goes and season’s over. It’s a weird feeling to try to describe to people, but empty is probably the way to do it.”
The Avs scored seven times in four games. Coach Jared Bednar, who is facing external criticism and questions about his future, praised the Golden Knights’ checking and goaltending.
The Western Conference Final is the farthest the Avs have reached since raising the Stanley Cup after the 2022 season. While this might have been the best chance to win it again, Landeskog wants this group to take another run at it next season.
“I certainly hope so. I believe in that,” Landeskog said.
On a somber night in Las Vegas, a feeling far too common for far too many in this city, Landeskog talked through the pain. This hurt. But he has come back from worse.
“I mean, it’s 32 teams that are trying to win it. It’s hard, but I think at the end of the day, if there’s one thing I learned over the last handful of years, it’s get knocked down, you just get right back up,” Landeskog said. “Yeah, that’s the only way to do it.”
