Kelly had spent his first season with the Colorado Avalanche watching and admiring Gabe Landeskog’s attempt to come back from knee issues. Then, when it was time for the captain to finally return, Kelly was mesmerized.

It was Game 3 against the Dallas Stars, 1,032 days since his last appearance in an NHL game.

“I remember going out for warmups that game and it’s basically 95% full already in the lower bowl, at least,” Kelly said. “I’ve never experienced walking out into warmups and having that much of the crowd there already. It just goes to show how much it means to the city, the fans, to our team in the room.”

Landeskog will take the ice Thursday night for the Avs in Game 3 against the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena. There will be no extra fanfare.

It was one year ago — April 23, 2025 — that Landeskog became the first player to return to the NHL after having knee cartilage transplant surgery. When he was announced in the starting lineup, it was one of the loudest moments in the history of Ball Arena.

“It was an exciting day for sure,” Landeskog said. “A lot different than this year. I still remember it like it was yesterday, but a very different feeling this year. Obviously we’ve had a long regular season lead up. So, yeah, a lot more comfortable this time around.”

Landeskog joined the Avs for Game 3 against the Stars and almost instantly became one of the best players in the series. That was remarkable, considering the layoff, but how his body would respond to a full season of hockey was another matter.

When Landeskog showed up for training camp, the plan was … very to be determined. How much could he play? How effective could he be over an 82-game schedule?

Landeskog played in 60 games for the Avs. He dealt with two of the most painful injuries imaginable — broken ribs after crashing into the goal post in South Florida and then a Cale Makar shot to his groin area that required surgery. But, he also did not miss a game to manage his knee.

It’s an unanswerable question if he would have needed to have been available for all 82 games, but it’s still yet another remarkable data point in his comeback story.

“I didn’t really know what to expect, to be honest,” Landeskog said. “I was kind of open-minded coming into the season. I just didn’t know what to expect. I was prepared to maybe miss time at the start, but I knew I was just going to go into it and kind of get to know my body again, get to know my knee and how much it can handle with so many games. I think I’ve been very pleasantly surprised all year with how it’s handled all the things I’ve thrown at it.”

Landeskog had 14 goals and 35 points in 60 games. It was a slow start, in part because he had multiple goals taken away by official reviews. He had 18 points in the 25 games that preceded the rib injury.

Regardless of his production, how the Avs played when he was available became a recurring theme. Colorado went 45-7-8 with the captain in the lineup, just an absurd pace that helped the Avs cruise to the Presidents’ Trophy.

“I think our team does react differently (with Landeskog) and I think our team, there’s something about his ability to help our guys remain focused and even keel, it����ap hard to explain,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “But it����ap a different reaction from our team, a different mentality from our team when he’s in the lineup.”

Players like Kelly heard stories about Landeskog after arriving in Colorado. It was the way other veterans on the team revered Landeskog, even when he hadn’t played for three seasons.

This year, Kelly has seen what all the hype was about.

“Guys who have been here were like, ‘You gotta wait to see what it’s like when he’s back in the room,’ ” Kelly said. “It����ap so cool to see it through your own eyes, and not just like be a fan and watch on TV or see interviews, hear stories. When he speaks, man, it’s unbelievable. He’s always got the right thing to say. He knows when to say it, at the right time, the right tone. You see his willingness to stand up for teammates.

“I don’t know if there’s a mode, but if you can go on NHL26 and build the captain, you just copy Gabe Landeskog. That’s what you’re going to build. He has it all, man. … Just feel super lucky to play with him and super happy for him to get back in the lineup, do as well as he’s done this year, making an impact every night. Yeah, it’s pretty special to see.”

“A little anxious to get going, but the 1 p. m. game, you don’t really have much (time) to think about it,” Avs goaltender Scott Wedgewood said after stopping 24 of 25 Los Angeles shots in a 2-1 Stanley Cup Playoffs victory. “So just get up, prep, and go. And once we got a few shots on and settled down, the crowd was into it. First TV timeout, I was talking to (fellow goalie Mackenzie Blackwood), just kind of felt like my heart rate was a little high. But once we got going, it just felt like normal again.”

The nicest thing you could say about Wedgewood — “Wedgie” to the Ball Arena faithful who chanted his name repeatedly Sunday — was that his first-ever career NHL postseason start, at age 33, looked pretty much like one of his normal, composed regular-season outings in burgundy and blue.

For the most part, he kept the action in front of him. If not for a funny bounce in the third period, he would’ve kept every puck in front of him, too. Nineteen even-strength saves, five power-play saves, no muss, no fuss.

“We have so much trust in him and he’s super-composed,” Avs forward Logan O’Connor said Colorado’s now-official 1A net-minder. “Super-positive all the time, whatever the circumstances are. And we know if we have breakdowns, which are going to happen, he’s got our back throughout that. And just seeing his game grow, (as a) late bloomer, having the best season he’s had in his career right now at the perfect time for our team has been special to watch.”

Wedgewood, sitting to O’Connor’s left on the Avs’ makeshift stage, lit up at that one.

“Thanks, dude,” the goalie said.

It couldn’t have happened to a nicer bunch of bums. And chippy bums, at that. The Kings went into this series with a lot of bark and almost no offensive bite. Los Angeles let its elbows do most of the talking Sunday, and the message was clear: We have no chance in heck to beat you clean, so you wanna throw down some gloves and dance?

Clarke shoved O’Connor at least once. With eight minutes left in the contest, Kempe bonked Cale Makar in the back of the head, then went to the box for mixing it up with captain Gabe Landeskog, who came to Makar’s defense, shortly thereafter. At least it served the top-seeded Avs a taste of what’s to come — eight straight weeks of knuckle sandwiches.

“Absolutely, the intensity and physicality (are) going to ramp up as the rounds go on here,” O’Connor, the Mayor, a scrapper and poacher built for playoff hockey, noted after scoring his first goal since last April 26. “We know teams are going to want to try and push us out of games. We feel as though we can push back just as hard. I think that’s one great thing about our group, is the versatility within our locker room.

“You want to go (the style of a) 1-0 game, we like to think we can beat you at that. Track meet, if it happens, we’ve got that. Physicality, we have guys that are willing to step up. You know, as that happens, just try not to get frustrated with it. Teams are going to try and get under our skin, get under Cale (Makar’s) skin, whatever it may be, and I think it’s just on us to continue to respond with playing the right way, being disciplined, and continue to just stick to our game plan without getting frustrated.”

With that, Wedgewood leaned into the microphone and grinned.

“Not much more I can add,” the goalie deadpanned.

He added more than enough between the pipes. Wedgewood had to be on his tootsies early — the first 11 minutes were a snooze-fest, by and large. At the 9:06 mark of the opening stanza, the two teams had combined for as many giveaways (seven) as shots.

“I think just the atmosphere of it, you know, regular season-wise, you can get into some lulls throughout the game,” Wedgewood noted later.

“It’s always like you’re engaged, you’re going, and then once the TV timeouts or whistles go, I kind of flush it. Almost rely on (flushing) it, kind of like a golf shot. Each play, you’ve got something coming at you to dial in … And (that) just seems to kind of keep my brain from just being on all the time and getting exhausted and then also being completely out of it.”

Sunday proved more labor than love. The Kings have only two paths for pulling off an upset in this series: Either boring the Avs to death while hoping goalie Anton Forsberg can somehow steal a win; or goading multiple Colorado stars into assault and battery charges, and suspensions, along the way.

Los Angeles spent most of Sunday slowing the tempo and trying to drag a faster, better team into the mud with them. With 4:31 left in the second period, Nathan MacKinnon wristed a low line drive from the right faceoff circle that Forsberg parried but couldn’t corral. Enter Artturi Lehkonen, who swooped into the crease to clean up with Doughty still riding his back, remaining upright and curling the rebound around Forsberg’s right leg to finally light the tamp. When No. 62 cocked his head back to scream in chorus with the crowd, it felt like sweet relief as much anything else.

“They’re a tight-checking team, physical team, good team,” Avs scrapper Jack Drury said. “But we are, too.”

And until the final three minutes, Wedgewood met the moment as a No. 1 Cup goalie. With five minutes left in a scoreless first period, No. 41 turned away an Artemi Panarin wrister. With 3:11 left in a scoreless first period, The Avs veteran stoned a Trevor Moore wrister, then hung in while Doughty missed an open net.

“WED-GIE!”

“WED-GIE!”

“WED-GIE!”

Forty seconds into the second stanza, Wedgewood produced another nice save on a wrister by hard-charging Alex Laferriere. He held firm on the Kings’ first power play following the Avs’ unsuccessful replay challenge midway through the stanza.

“WED-GIE!”

“WED-GIE!”

“WED-GIE!”

As the Avs led 2-0 with 11:13 left in the third, the Colorado goalie found himself literally wedged into his left post while the Kings stabbed at his ankles. Nothing.

“WED-GIE!”

“WED-GIE!”

“WED-GIE!”

And 2.94 goals for the game. Los Angeles also whiffed on two open nets in the first 40 minutes. Luck be a Landy!

“What did you think of Scott Wedgewood’s first NHL playoff start?” Avs coach Jared Bednar was asked.

To this, the stoic Bednar raised an uncharacteristic (and bruised) eyebrow.

“Ever?”

“Yup,” the scribes murmured.

“Didn’t know that.”

“That said, what can you say about his game?”

“I thought he was fantastic,” Bednar replied. “Yeah, did everything he needed to do. Obviously, bigger stakes, more emotion, but played the exact same way that he’s been playing for us all year.”.

Ever the cad, Bednar still wouldn’t commit to saying Wedgewood when asked if 41 would be his starter for Game 2 on Tuesday night.

“Not going to answer that,” the Avs coach groused.

He doesn’t have to. The scoreboard did it for him. There’s a reason the Kings are walking kinda funny into Game 2 on Tuesday night.

Avalanche vs. Kings matchups: Who has the edge?

Kings: 35-27-20, 90 points; 2.68 goals per game (29th), 2.90 goals against per game (8th)

Avalanche: 55-16-11, 121 points; 3.63 goals per game (1st), 2.40 goals against per game (1st)

Offense

The Avs just missed being the only NHL club to score 300 goals this year, but their 298 was still seven more than Carolina in second and 78 more than the Kings. Colorado hasn’t had its full allotment of forwards together very often since the additions of Nazem Kadri and Nicolas Roy before the trade deadline, but everyone is expected to be ready for Game 1.

It’s the best forward group in the league if everyone is healthy. Nathan MacKinnon led the league in goals and should be a Hart Trophy finalist for the third straight year. Martin Necas collected 100 points for the first time in his career. Brock Nelson fired home 33 goals and formed a dominant two-way tandem with Valeri Nichushkin.

Kadri will likely center the third line and Jack Drury the fourth, but Ross Colton could end up on any of the bottom three lines. Parker Kelly’s 21 goals would be tied for third on the Kings. He could play on the fourth line for the Avs.

The Kings did make a big splash for Artemi Panarin and then added Scott Laughton just before the deadline. Panarin and Adrian Kempe with Azne Kopitar between them is a very nice top line.

Byfield has been hot lately and is a strong No. 2 center. Colorado’s depth should be a massive advantage. Kevin Fiala and Andrei Kuzmenko would make this group look a lot more formidable, but both are injured any may not play in this series.

Advantage: Avalanche

Defense

Cale Makar missed some games with a minor injury, then returned and looked quite ready for the postseason. Will coach Jared Bednar start him with Devon Toews, or will he split them up? Brett Kulak has faced the Kings each of the past four postseasons with Edmonton. He could play with Makar and allow Toews to continue to skate with Sam Malinski, one of the breakout performers of the season.

Josh Manson missed the end of the regular season, but is expected to be ready for Sunday, and to be paired again with Brent Burns. The Avs led the NHL in offense from defensemen for the sixth consecutive season.

Drew Doughty and Mikey Anderson lead the Los Angeles blue line. Doughty is 36 and played the fewest minutes per game of his career. Brandt Clarke is an offensive specialist who the Avs are going to try to pin at his end of the ice. The Kings added both Brian Dumoulin and Cody Ceci this offseason to play in games like this. Colorado’s top forwards will be delighted to see them on the ice.

Advantage: Avalanche

Special teams

The power play has been Colorado’s weak link all season, but it’s been less of one since the Olympic break. The Avs finished 27th with the man advantage … but the Kings finished 28th. And Colorado was 16th at 21.4% with the extra man after the break.

Meanwhile, the Avs’ penalty kill has been consistently elite all season. Colorado finished first in the league on the PK. Los Angeles has the worst penalty kill in the playoffs — 30th overall this season, and last since the Olympic break at 67.9%. The Kings can be dangerous shorthanded, and that’s been an issue for the Avs at times this season.

Advantage: Avalanche

Goaltending

The Avs won the William Jennings Trophy for allowing the fewest goals this season. Scott Wedgewood led the NHL in goals against average (2.02) and save percentage (.921). Mackenzie Blackwood started the year 13-1-1, but has scuffled at times in the second half of the season. Both just missed out on representing Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Kings goalie Darcy Kuemper was on that Canada team after a strong start to the season. He may not be in net Sunday against his former team, though. Anton Forsberg has taken control of the position, winning five straight starts down the stretch to help L.A. qualify for the playoffs before dropping the finale to Calgary. Forsberg has a .914 save percentage since the Olympic break, while Kuemper has an .867.

We could see all four goalies in this series.

Advantage: Avalanche

Avalanche vs. Kings: 5 storylines to watch

1. Who is in net? The biggest unknown for the Avs is how the goalie situation is going to work. Scott Wedgewood has been the better goalie for a long stretch now, but Mackenzie Blackwood is still the long-term No. 1 goalie for this organization. Jared Bednar has said he will continue to play both guys.

2. Befuddle Byfield? The Kings top line is very good. Quinton Byfield has 11 goals in the past 15 games and centers the club’s go-to shutdown line. This could be a coming out party for him nationally if he comports himself well against MacKinnon and Co. If the Avs can keep him in check and make the Kings a one-line team, that should make this a short series.

3. Corral Clarke? 23-year-old Brandt Clarke is the type of offensive defenseman who can change games. The Kings also try to shelter him with a lot of offensive zone starts. Similar to Byfield, containing Clarke is a path to shutting down the Kings’ offense.

4. Power up? The Kings have some of the worst special teams in the league, in both phases. They’ve also had issues on specials teams during the playoffs the past few years. Colorado’s power play had a great March, but PP1 was in the garage for most of April because of injuries to Cale Makar and Nazem Kadri. This could, even should, be a chance for the Avs to find some success on the power play. And going close to perfect on the PK in the series isn’t out of the question.

5. One trip? These Kings have had a weird year. The coach got fired. They won 35 games. Everyone has counted them out. But … they’ve been better with Artemi Panarin and since Anton Forsberg got hot. They will play all of the motivational cards — nobody believes in us, we have nothing to lose, let’s win one series for Azne Kopitar before he retires. The Avs need to take control of this series early, not let up and make one trip to sunny Southern California, not two.

Avalanche vs. Kings series predictions

Corey Masisak, beat writer:  Once upon a time at another publication, I picked the Kings to win the Stanley Cup in five games. My boss asked how I could pick them in such a short series and my response was “because I can’t pick them in three.” This is that type of series, as long as the Avalanche take care of business early and don’t let the Kings start to believe. The Kings will try to slow game down, drag the Avs down into the mud and make it as coin-flip in nature as possible. They’re going to hope Anton Forsberg stays hot. They have a few standout players, but the Avs are much deeper. It would take a lot of things going wrong for this to be a long series, and catastrophic-type stuff for the Kings to win. Kings won that Cup Final in five games, by the way. And it was over in three. Avs in five.

Sean Keeler, sports columnist:  What better way to start a 2022 nostalgia tour than by waving hello (and good-bye) to old friend Darcy Kuemper in the first round? Chances are the former Avs net-minder won’t play much, unless MacKinnon, Necas & Company batter Anton Forsberg, the Kings’ likely No. 1 goaltender, early. And they could. The Avalanche swept all three meetings this season by an average score of 4.3-1.7 and haven’t posted fewer than four goals in any tussle against the Kings since December 2023. L.A.’s only chance is to muck it up, slow it down, and try to make things as ugly as possible — the Kings feature the lowest-scoring offense of any postseason team at 2.68 goals per game. Context: The Avs averaged 2.36 goals by the end of the second period. Get ‘er done, get ‘er done quick, and rest up for the bare knuckle brawl that’s looming in the next round. Avs in five.

Troy Renck, sports columnist:  The President����ap Trophy is a curse. But not in the first round. Not against the Kings. This is an ideal matchup for the Avs to work up a sweat before taking on the Dallas Stars. The Kings failed to manage a point against Colorado this season, outscored 13-5. The Kings received the interim coach boost – 11-6-6 – but they simply can’t score enough to avoid getting swept. Who is going to stop Nathan MacKinnon? Or Marty Necas? Or Cale Makar? No one, that’s who. Avs in four.

Lori Punko, deputy sports editor: The President’s Trophy winning Avs against the 20th best team in the NHL? It should — and most likely will — be a cakewalk for the Avs. Facing the Kings is a gift for MacKinnon & Company, but they need to take care of business and not look past this series to the winner of the Wild-Stars battle. Colorado got healthy at the right time, and if they dominate like they should, the Avs will be the better rested team going into the second round. Avs in five.

Kyle Newman, sportswriter:  Colorado makes an opening round statement: After winning the Presidents’ Trophy, they are in these playoffs to be the first winner of the trophy since the 2013 Blackhawks to also raise the Stanley Cup. Getting Cale Makar back from an upper-body injury that sidelined him for a few weeks down the stretch of the regular season is a boost to a roster already loaded with enough firepower to easily dismantle the Kings. The Avs will take care of business at home for a 2-0 lead in the series, then win a couple on the road to clinch the series by next Sunday in Los Angeles. The Kings put together a nice five-game win streak towards the end of the season, but their porous defense will be no match for the Avs’ top line of Nathan MacKinnon, Artturi Lehkonen and Martin Necas. Expect a lot of Colorado scoring blitzes in this series, as seen in the season opener when the Avs scored three second-period goals in a 4-1 win. Avs in four.

But Brett Kulak will.

While the Colorado Avalanche was finishing off a record-breaking regular season Thursday night with a 2-0 victory against the Seattle Kraken at Ball Arena, the Anaheim Ducks and Edmonton Oilers both won their final contests as well. That chain of events means the Avs will face the Kings in the opening round.

It also means Kulak will face them for a fifth consecutive year. Game 1 is Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. at Ball Arena.

“That’s pretty crazy,” Kulak said. “They had a little bit different-looking teams each year, and they competed hard. I know there were multiple times when we were down in the series. They had us on the ropes a few times. That’s just how the playoffs work sometimes.”

The Kings have not won a playoff series since lifting the Stanley Cup in 2014. Edmonton has knocked them out in the first round four years running, though Los Angeles did have a lead in three of the four series.

Scott Wedgewood made 22 saves Thursday night against the Kraken and pitched his fourth shutout of the season. He and Mackenzie Blackwood secured the William Jennings Trophy as the Avs allowed the fewest goals in the league — 25 fewer than the Dallas Stars.

Wedgewood became the first goalie in franchise history to lead the NHL in both goals-against average (2.02) and save percentage (.921). Patrick Roy led the league in GAA in 2001-02, but no Avs/Nordiques netminder had finished first in save percentage.

The Avs clinched the Presidents’ Trophy as the regular-season NHL champions a week ago, but the win against Seattle established a new franchise record with 121 points — two more than 2021-22 club.

“A solid, solid season,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “Consistent, not too many lulls where we didn’t play very close to the we could play. … I thought it was a focused group from start to finish. And now the fun stuff starts.”

Wedgewood was one of the best stories of the regular season for the Avs, but so too was Parker Kelly. He added another goal Thursday night, stretching his career-best total to 21 to go along with 35 points. Kelly, who earned a four-year, $6.8 million contract extension in July that runs through 2030 after one season with the club, had more goals this season than he had points in any of his first three NHL seasons.

A host of regulars did not play for the Avs against Seattle, but Bednar said everyone on the active roster will be available Sunday when the Kings come to town. Nick Blankenburg, who will likely slide back to No. 7 on the defensive depth chart, had the first goal against the Kraken — his second in four games. He also had another disallowed by an offsides challenge.

While the Avs raced to a historic 31-2-7 start, there were some mixed results in the second half of the season. Colorado was still able to eventually cruise to a division title, top seed in the Western Conference and home-ice advantage throughout the postseason, but the Stars did narrow the gap shortly after the Olympic break.

But, then the Avs finished the campaign with an 11-3-1 run and left no doubt.

“I’m happy with our finish,” Bednar said. “Guys finished strong. I’m happy with where our team’s at going into this. Get them rest here, get them up to speed on L.A. and turn them loose.”

The Avalanche had a chance to clinch the Central Division and the top seed in the Western Conference on Sunday, but the St. Louis Blues ruined the moment with a 3-2 victory at Ball Arena. St. Louis’ top line dominated, and Robert Thomas posted his first career hat trick, including the game-winner with just under three minutes left to bury Colorado.

The Avs, playing without Valeri Nichushkin on Sunday due to an upper-body injury and also still without Cale Makar due to an upper-body injury, couldn’t muster enough finishing touch on offense. Then the defense wilted at a critical moment, sealing the defeat.

“We gave up too many odd-man rushes,” Avs head coach Jared Bednar said. “(The first goal) was because we’re disorganized coming into our zone, because they had numbers beating us up the ice. Odd-man rush on the second one, odd-man rush on the third one, and that can’t happen.”

Bednar said there’s a possibility Nichushkin is back on the ice for Colorado’s next game on Tuesday in St. Louis.

“I don’t want to be playing guys hurt if it can get worse,” Bednar said. “That’s what we did today with Val.”

On Sunday, in front of a sold-out Easter crowd, both teams squandered a couple of opportunities early, including Nathan MacKinnon missing a one-on-one and then the Blues also whiffing on a similar chance. Neither mustered a shot on net in those scenarios.\

“I just couldn’t finish (all game),” MacKinnon said. “It was one of those nights. Felt good, legs felt good, just couldn’t find the spots.”

About 10 minutes through the frame, the Avs briefly took the lead when Ross Colton batted a rebound out of the air and into the net off a deflection from the weak side. But upon video review on a St. Louis challenge, Colorado was offside, negating the goal.

A few minutes later, St. Louis took control off a chaotic sequence in front of the Colorado net. MacKenzie Blackwood made three saves at close range, but the Avs couldn’t clear the puck, and Thomas made them pay with a slap shot from the slot. That beat Blackwood on the top right shelf.

But the Avs responded, with Brent Burns — who was honored before the game for his 1,000-game streak that hit the milestone on Saturday in the road win over Dallas — forcing the action. Burns’ wrister through traffic deflected off Parker Kelly, then off a Blues defender and goalie Joel Hofer to equalize the game at 1-1.

In the second period, both teams scored within 29 seconds of each other to push the score to 2-2.

Burns’ wrister from up near the blue line found its way through traffic and into the bottom right corner of the net for Colorado’s first lead. Before PA announcer Alan Roach was even done celebrating the goal, however, St. Louis scored. Off an Avs’ chance, the Blues reversed the ice in a 3-on-2 rush that led to a tic-tac-toe pass and Thomas’ second goal of the night.

Five minutes into the third, the Avs nearly had a short-handed goal when Hofer got drawn out of the crease, but Colorado couldn’t punch it in amid a mass of bodies in front of the net.

And it was St. Louis that had the final say in a 2-on-1 rush, when Thomas got the feed from Jimmy Snuggerud on the weak side of the net and easily put the game-winner home. Snuggerud pulled off a toe-drag to shake Martin Nečas and zip the puck to a wide-open Thomas.

“I don’t know why Marty’s playing D (there),” MacKinnon said. “Tough way to lose.

“It’s a lot of winning and losing, back-and-forth lately. It was a tight game, but it would’ve been nice to just get a point there and take our chances in OT.”

The Avs have just one win in their last seven games in Denver, lacking the home cooking they had going earlier in the season, when they put together a 17-game home winning streak.

“We’re chasing the game a bit (at home),” Kelly said. “We want to make sure this is a tough building to play in and right now, it’s just kind of frustrating (with the recent results at home).”

Will it be easier to flush Sunday’s loss, considering the back-to-back games against the Blues, who remain in contention for a wild-card spot, and the imminent clinching of the No. 1 Western Conference spot?

“It makes it easier if we beat them on Tuesday,” Bednar said.

Elder was one of four presenters during the HALO conference and meetings Tuesday at Ball Arena. Hosted by Arik Parnass, who leads the Colorado Avalanche analytics department, the conference was the largest collection of NHL analytics staffers the league has ever seen. Each of the presentations was a finalist for the conference’s hackathon competition.

A graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania, Elder gave a presentation on a metric to better define forechecking success called PRESS (puck recovery and exit suppression score). Shortly after Elder’s presentation, there were several attendees who wanted to speak further with him on the topic.

“It’s been great,” Elder said. “I’ve never presented at a conference before, let alone in front of like, real NHL people. It was very cool. I was a little nervous, like I think everyone would be, but I felt very prepared, so I feel like I did an OK job.

“I tend to think that no one is going to solve hockey, or come up with a singular thing that is like, ‘This is how you win more games,’ or ‘this is how you score more goals.’ I’m very interested in the aspects of the game that are somethings like the game within the game. With forechecking, the object isn’t to score a goal, it’s to get the puck back. That’s an aspect of the game that feels like it could be optimized in some way.”

Elder grew up in Northern Virginia, rooting for the Washington Capitals. His goal after school is to some day work for an NHL team.

As part of the hackathon competition, all of the contestants were given the same set of data — a batch of AHL games from two seasons ago — to work with. Elder and his partner, Jonathan Pipping, went through about 28,000 forechecks, and developed a model for league-average success rates in two components of forechecking.

They were then able to score players against that average. One member of an NHL team’s analytics staff said the findings from Elder and Pipping lined up pretty closely with what his club’s research into forechecking success has found.

Colorado Avalanche forward Joel Kiviranta didn’t spend much time with the Colorado Eagles in the AHL, but he was there during the timeframe of this set of games. He also scored as one of the top-five forecheckers in Elder’s metric.

“I’m sure there are groups that are collecting that data and analyzing it however they want to analyze it,” Avs forward Logan O’Connor said. “As the game evolves, analytics have obviously become a huge part of sports in general, and especially with hockey. It would definitely be fascinating to see the tendencies and player-to-player matchups, how teams do it differently, and what the success is, where the puck is, where the player is, and whatnot.

“I think at some point analytics can become overwhelming, because hockey is so dynamic. Baseball analytics are a very easy, set number of things that they look at, whereas hockey is so fluid that I think it can definitely get challenging. I’m sure those guys are brilliant for a reason. I’m sure they have ways around it.”

The Avs are one of the most aggressive forechecking teams in the NHL. It’s the the fuel for their offensive engine. Colorado wants the game played at a frenetic pace, and dialing up the pressure far away from their own goaltender when the Avs don’t have the puck often allows them to create turnovers and continued offensive threats.

NHL teams have been trying to identify the best forecheckers for as long as there has been scouting. Avs coach Jared Bednar has said how his team forechecks is one of the first indicators he looks at to see if his team came ready to work in a particular game.

“I mean, I would love it,” Parker Kelly said of a standardized forechecking metic. “As a forechecking guy, yeah. I feel like there’s got to be forechecking stats out there already. Maybe it’s not a league-wide set, but we have our own in here and that’s a big stat we do look at.

“I feel like that’s kind of a staple of our game. When our forecheck is humming, it’s usually a good indicator of our legs. We’re hunting the puck. We’re making good decisions. I’d love to sit down and go through all of those types of stats. I find them really interesting.”

It takes hard work to forecheck, but there’s more to it than a player just skating around and throwing his body around to be an effective forechecker at the highest levels. There is skill and craft involved. Most of the best forecheckers don’t rely on big hits.

Guys like Kelly, O’Connor and Kiviranta are well-versed in the other team’s plan to get the puck out of danger. There are times when the best forechecks don’t involve hitting at all, but rushing a defenseman into making a poor decision.

As Elder noted in his presentation, the forechecker who creates the original turnover often never touches the puck and therefore never gets any credit in a traditional box score. Elder’s model hopes to define better credit for players at each level of a forechecking system.

One of the attendees at the HALO conference was Andrew Cogliano, special assistant to Avalanche general manager Chris MacFarland. Cogliano was one of the league’s most respected forecheckers for years. It’s not hard to imagine a world where, with more defined and readily available data like Elder’s PRESS metic on who the best forecheckers are, a player like Cogliano being an even more valuable commodity.

“I think with the skill of it, in regard to things like body position, angling, stick position, that’s something that would be hard to put a metric on,” O’Connor said. “It is a bit more challenging, but as you average things out over a season or a career, you could definitely see tendencies and who specializes in it, and who can make a career out of doing that, for sure.”

The Colorado Avalanche, smarting from four straight losses at home, were locked in from the opening shift Monday night and obliterated the rebuilding Calgary Flames, 9-2, at Ball Arena.

Nazem Kadri had a pair of goals against his former club. Superstar Cale Makar had three assists before not playing in the third period because of an upper-body injury. Nathan MacKinnon, Martin Necas, Parker Kelly and Jack Drury all had three-point nights as well and Colorado dominated this contest in all facets.

“I want to win. It’s as simple as that,” Kadri said about blowing out his former team. “I don’t care where I’m at. I want to win. That’s no disrespect … when the puck hits the ice, I want to make an impact on winning.”

Scott Wedgewood made 27 saves, including a few spectacular ones just for good measure, after the outcome was long decided. The power play was ruthless. The depth guys were relentless. It was a performance reminiscent of the Avs’ bulldozing run to the top of the league earlier this season.

With the win, Colorado’s magic number to win the Central Division and the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference is down to eight points, either gained by the Avs in their final nine contests or lost by the Dallas Stars in their last eight games.

Makar took a heavy hit from Flames forward Adam Klapka in the second period, and the television broadcast showed him speaking with one of Colorado’s athletic trainers on the bench and wincing in pain after that shift. Still, Makar took two more shifts before the end of the period, including one that ended with an assist on MacKinnon’s goal, before he didn’t play in the third.

Avs coach Jared Bednar did not have an update on Makar after the game.

The Avs have had some dominant performances this season, but the first 20 minutes on Monday will go on the short list of best periods of the season. It was a shooting gallery in the Calgary end.

Colorado finished the opening period with 42 shot attempts, 26 shots on goal (tied for second-most in franchise history) and 12 high-danger scoring chances, per Natural Stat Trick. The Avs also had a 5-0 lead.

“We wanted to have a good start,” Bednar said. “In the last eight home losses, we’ve only scored first twice. Getting on the board early and jumping on teams has always been a hallmark of our successful home record. We addressed it … and I thought our guys did an excellent job.”

Jack Drury got the party started just 2:31 into the first. He finished a shift full of offensive pressure by banking the puck off Calgary starter Dustin Wolf and in from below the goal line. It was his 10th goal of the year, and it’s the first double-digit season of his career.

Colorado’s power play has improved this month, and the first period became the pièce de résistance. Calgary took a pair of penalties 40 seconds apart, and Kadri scored twice in 66 seconds.

Martin Necas set him up 23 seconds into the 5-on-3 to make it a 2-0 lead, then Kadri pounced on the rebound of a Brock Nelson shot to push the lead to three goals just 7:37 into this contest.

Kadri’s goals were Nos. 13 and 14 on the power play this month. Nathan MacKinnon added No. 15 late in the second period. The Avs had not scored more than eight goals with the man advantage in any other month this season.

Colorado reached the Olympic break with the NHL’s worst power-play percentage at 15.1%. The Avs are 15-for-48 this month, which is 31.3%. That is third in the league since March 1.

“It’s buy in. It’s execution,” Bednar said. “There’s a list of probably eight or 10 things there that if you make them 5% better, it affects your power play in a big way.”

The second line scored a highlight-reel goal to make it 4-0 before the halfway point of the period. Nelson’s long outlet pass started it, then captain Gabe Landeskog finished it with his 11th goal of the season after a slick pass from Valeri Nichushkin.

That was all for Wolf, who allowed four goals on 16 shots in just 9:19 of action. The fourth line kept rolling with another tally late in the period. Parker Kelly tipped a Makar shot past former University of Denver goalie Devin Cooley at 15:50 of the third.

Kelly now has 18 goals this season. His previous career high was eight, which he scored each of the past two seasons. Kelly has already signed a four-year, $6.8 million contract extension that starts next season, but 18 goals (and 31 points) with a $825,000 cap hit have made him one of the bargains of the 2025-26 campaign across the NHL.

“I think we’re all just really connected,” Kelly said of his line. “(Joel Kiviranta) and Jack make my life so easy out there. They definitely make me a better player.”

Colorado’s offensive assault slowed down in the second period, but MacKinnon scored on the power play with 35 seconds remaining.

It picked back up in the third. MacKinnon set up Necas for a one-timer at 6:24 of the third to make it 7-1. Sam Malinski scored on a rush less than two minutes later on a play set up by Kelly and Drury.

The Winnipeg Jets came to Ball Arena and kept their faint playoff hopes alive with a 4-2 victory against the league-leading Avalanche. Cole Perfetti’s goal was the game-winner, but whether or not it should have counted is another chapter in the NHL’s ongoing goaltender interference debate.

Perfetti tipped a shot from Josh Morrissey past Mackenzie Blackwood with 5:11 remaining in the third period to give the Jets a 3-2 lead. It was the second deflection goal of the game for Winnipeg, but the guy who didn’t touch the puck — Jonathan Toews — was the center of the game’s defining decision.

“I have no idea. I can’t comment on goalie interference because I don’t know what they’re looking for,” Avs star Cale Makar said. “There is a big grey area. That one was probably borderline tonight, but honestly, I don’t know.

“It’s frustrating at times. It’s tough, but like, where is the line drawn exactly? The crease is there for a reason. If you’re in the crease, obviously, it’s not IIHF rules where (the play is blown dead and the faceoff) comes out of the zone, but if you’re in the crease, obviously, you might be obstructing.”

Colorado challenged the play for goaltender interference. Toews was in the blue paint, and his skate made contact with Blackwood before the puck went in. That has been enough to rule out goals this season, but goalie interference has become a red-hot button issue across the league because coaches and players alike feel like they don’t know what the standards are.

Perfetti’s goal was upheld, and the Avs were assessed a penalty for the failed challenge. Colorado killed off the penalty with relative ease, but it left the Avs with a little more than three minutes to find an equalizer. Kyle Connor added an empty-net goal to ensure the Winnipeg victory.

“We kind of bumped him in there the first time, and the second time (Toews) goes in on his own,” Bednar said. “There’s minimal contact. The contact was probably a little bit late.

“I challenged because of the timing of it. One goal at 5-on-5 the whole game, it was hard to create offense … if you can try to erase it off the board, I thought it was worth the shot. It was close enough.”

The Dallas Stars won earlier in the day, so Colorado’s lead in the Central Division and Western Conference is down to seven points with 10 games remaining. The Avs also have a game in hand on the Stars.

Gabriel Vilardi opened the scoring for Winnipeg. Morrissey’s shot from the left point deflected twice, with Vilardi getting his stick on it last at 3:51 of the first period.

Brock Nelson evened the score with a power-play goal at 8:59. Nazem Kadri picked out Nelson in the slot for a hard pass, and the latter redirected it into the top-left corner of the net for his 33rd goal of the season. That’s Nelson’s third goal in five games and also leaves him just four shy of matching his career high set in 2021-22.

Makar collected an assist on the Nelson goal. It was his 500th career point. By reaching the milestone in 467 games, Makar is the fourth-fastest defenseman to 500 in NHL history. Only Bobby Orr, Paul Coffey and Dennis Potvin got there faster.

“It’s really special,” Makar said. “I don’t think I’m doing it anywhere else than here. Very fortunate to play with a group of guys like this. It makes my life easy, and I try to make theirs a little bit easier too.”

The Avs had the league’s worst power play at the Olympic break and went just 1-for-10 in the last three games of February, but it has looked like a different unit in March. Nelson’s goal was the 12th with the extra man this month. The Avs have scored at least one in 10 of the 14 games.

Colorado hadn’t scored more than eight in any other month this season, and had just seven in January and February combined.

The home side was slow off the mark to start the second period, and Cole Koepke helped Winnipeg regain the lead. After the Avs turned the puck over in the neutral zone, Koepke cut to the inside of the ice and past Brent Burns and then whiffed on his shot, but the changeup trickled through Blackwood’s legs at 2:14 of the middle period.

Parker Kelly’s dream season continued late in the second. Josh Manson flicked a wrist shot from the top of the offensive zone towards the net, and Kelly got a piece of it for his 17th goal of the season with 1:55 left in the period.

Kelly’s career highs before this season were eight goals and 11 assists, but he’s more than doubled his best goal output and has added 12 assists as well.

Sam Malinski, Hank Kempf and Matt Stienburg were there, with a couple other Cornell alums. Logan O’Connor and Sean Behrens were not in the building to watch the University of Denver Pioneers cruise past the Big Red in the first-round of the NCAA tournament, but the 5-0 victory is almost certain to come up again in the locker rooms of the Colorado Avalanche and Colorado Eagles in the near future.

Behrens won two national championships at DU in 2022 and 2024, but Malinski’s Big Red knocked the Pios out of the 2023 NCAA tournament. History lessons, especially with the NCAA tournament and the IIHF world junior championships, are common source material for chirps in an NHL locker room at certain times of the year.

With the NCAA hockey tournament in full swing, we’re going to borrow an idea from Nuggets writer (and Avs beat alum) Bennett Durando. Given that hockey has a more robust path for players to reach the professional ranks, we’re not just going to focus on the NCAA guys.

It’s a little tricky, but we’re going to classify this as “before North American pro hockey.” So playing in a pro league overseas as a young player will count, but the AHL will not.

So, who were the most accomplished Avs players in their younger days? Some of the names won’t be surprises, but a couple might be.

1. Cale Makar 

It’s a pretty interesting debate between the top two guys on this list, just like it can be an intriguing discussion at times about their value to the present-day Avalanche. Makar won the Hobey Baker Award as the best player in college hockey and helped UMass reach the Frozen Four. He also won the Hockey East Player of the Year and was an NCAA All-America selection. He also helped Canada win gold at the world junior tournament. Before that, he also swept every major award in the Alberta Junior Hockey League and helped the Brooks Bandits win the league championship twice.

2. Nathan MacKinnon

MacKinnon won the QMJHL and, famously, the Memorial Cup with the Halifax Mooseheads. He was the MVP of the Memorial Cup, which included outplaying fellow potential No. 1 pick Seth Jones. He wasn’t the MVP of his team before that — Jonathan Drouin was. MacKinnon also won the Hlinka Gretzky Cup and led the tournament in scoring, but he was a depth guy on the WJC team, and Canada did not medal.

3. Artturi Lehkonen

It’s a pretty good debate about third and fourth on this list, as well. Lehkonen played for Finland at the world junior tournament three times, and won a gold medal. He also won the Liiga Rookie of the Year and a bronze medal at the U-18 world championships. Lehkonen spent a year in Sweden before coming to North America, and he won both the Swedish Hockey League and the Champions League with Frolunda.

4. Martin Necas 

Necas was a more productive junior player than Lehkonen, but it shouldn’t be a surprise that Lehkonen has done so much winning at all levels of his career. Necas has done plenty of that as well, and he’d be higher if we included his Calder Cup title with the Charlotte Checkers. Necas won the Czech Extraliga twice and was named both the league’s rookie of the year in 2017 and MVP in 2018. He also won the Hlinka Gretzky Cup and led that tournament in scoring.

5. Nicolas Roy

Roy was a superstar in the QMJHL. He was named a first-team all-star twice and led the ‘Q’ in goals one year. He has a nice collection of international medals as well — gold at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, silver at the world juniors and bronze at the U-18 tournament.

6. Gavin Brindley

Brindley played for the Americans twice at the WJC, winning both gold and bronze medals. He also won silver at the U-18 tournament. He won Big Ten player of the year and earned NCAA All-America honors while at Michigan.

7. Valeri Nichushkin 

Nichushkin won a gold medal at the U-17 world championships and a bronze medal at the WJC. He also won rookie of the year in the KHLin 2012-13 with Traktor Chelyabinsk. During that season, he played in international tournaments with Igor Shesterkin (U-18) and Andrei Vasilevskiy (WJC) as the starting goalies.

8. Nazem Kadri 

Kadri won a silver medal at world juniors. He also played in the Ontario Hockey League with Kitchener, a team coached by Peter DeBoer, and was named a second-team OHL all-star.

9. Brock Nelson

Before he became an American Olympic champion, Nelson won bronze at the world junior tournament. He also had a strong career at North Dakota, winning the old WCHA twice and playing in the Frozen Four.

10. Logan O’Connor 

O’Connor won an NCAA championship with the Pioneers. He also won the Clark Cup in the USHL as captain of the Sioux Falls Stampede.

Honorable mentions: Devon Toews won the British Columbia Hockey League with Surrey before winning the ECAC and reaching the Frozen Four with Quinnipiac. Parker Kelly won the WHL with Prince Albert. Mackenzie Blackwood won OHL goalie of the year, made the all-rookie team and was a first-team all-star with Barrie.

Through 69 missed games and long periods of uncertainty, O’Connor also got to experience one of the great joys of his life. , the first child for Logan and his wife, Kendra.

“If there was any time to be injured, it����ap been this year for sure,” O’Connor told The Denver Post. “As challenging as things have been professionally for me, at home has been remarkable. My wife’s been an absolute machine. She’s been unbelievable through it all, dealing with what I’ve been dealing with professionally, and being a first-time mother and father.

“It����ap helped to be able to keep my focus on family at times, opposed to the challenges that I’ve been facing personally with being out the whole year. … It definitely puts a lot more things into perspective, and I just enjoyed the extra time at home I had that I wouldn’t be getting otherwise.”

O’Connor is back with the Avs now. He made his season debut Tuesday night in a 6-2 win over the Penguins at PPG Paints Arena.

Colorado coach Jared Bednar said the plan was to get O’Connor about 8-10 minutes in his first action since Game 7 of the 2025 playoffs in Dallas. It went so well that he ended up logging more than 15 minutes.

He forechecked all night. He killed key penalties. He set up a goal with a perfectly placed pass.

He was “OC” again, back like he never left.

“Yeah, not bad,” O’Connor said after the game. “I think you shake a lot of the rust off early. Especially the first couple shifts, things feel like they’re going a little fast. You’re not used to certain types of situations, so definitely nice to get the first one under my belt. It’s been a long time coming. Hopefully, as the games go on, I’ll feel more and more comfortable and continue to find my game more and play to my identity more and more as it goes on.”

‘The hardest part was the unknown’

O’Connor is a quintessential “glue guy” in the NHL. An undrafted free agent from the University of Denver, he’s been an easy player for Avalanche fans to root for and watch grow up as a quality NHL role player.

Colorado rewarded him with a six-year contract, at the time a rarity for a guy who typically plays on the third or fourth line. But there’s no question about O’Connor’s value to the Avs. It goes well beyond the goals and the assists on the back of his hockey cards.

“It’s huge. It’s hard to describe to the people that aren’t in this locker room, what he means to this group,” Avalanche captain Gabe Landeskog said. “Not everybody knows what he’s been going through, but I think I can relate a little bit. So much respect for him and what he’s gone through, and the road that he’s been on. He continues to just put the work in, and it’s just awesome to see him back.”

We haven’t known what was going on with O’Connor. Still don’t, really.

The Avalanche announced O’Connor was going to have offseason hip surgery in early June. The timeline was 5-6 months. When training camp began, coach Jared Bednar said O’Connor was on track for an early November return.

That timeline came and went. Bednar said O’Connor had a separate issue pop up just before he was ready to return. The Avs have never offered what it was, aside from the coach calling it a soft-tissue injury.

Even as O’Connor prepared to play his first game in more than 10 months on Tuesday in Pittsburgh, he sidestepped a couple of chances to reveal what the actual problem was. He and Bednar both detailed the long process to get here, though.

Lots of doctor visits. Second and third opinions. Tests, then more tests. “Trial and error, at times,” as Bednar put it.

“Something else came up, pretty unrelated to the hip surgery that took us, I want to say, months to figure out what it was exactly,” O’Connor said. “It was definitely a tough process to go through. It got to the point where it didn’t even matter what it was. It was just like a, ‘Tell me what it is,’ type of thing. I ended up getting clarity months into the process, and then had a game plan in place to return to play.

“The hardest part was the unknown. I knew I would play again. Very different to (Landeskog’s) situation. His was … didn’t know if he’d ever play again. Mine was, I knew I’d play. It was just a matter of when, but the uncertainty of not knowing what it was for the longest time was definitely challenging. … Once we got (clarity), the process was pretty smooth from there on out, but it just took a lot of time to get to that place.”

Not an easy re-entry

There were times during the season when the local media would report that O’Connor was skating at Family Sports Center. There were times when that was just to test something out, not a next step forward in his recovery process.

That entire process was a grind, mentally as much as physically. Then came the next challenge.

O’Connor was ready to return, but the Avs have stopped staging traditional practices. The compressed schedule due to the 2026 Winter Olympics, combined with Colorado being an older club still trying to fend off the Dallas Stars for the top spot in the Western Conference, has meant the Avs are trying to rest as much as possible.

If they do go on the ice on the day before a game, it’s been an optional workout. O’Connor never got to take part in a 5-on-5 drill before his return. He had very little contact in a practice environment. Players rarely come back from long-term absences without checking off those boxes.

“We tinkered with plans along the way. There was a chance I was going to go down with the Eagles, but things changed with that plan” O’Connor said. “My game and mindset doesn’t change. It’s all about the details. It’s just that much more important, because I will have a lot of that rust that I’ll have to shake off. There is a time frame here to shake that off, but there’s not a ton of games left.

“Better late than never, but there’s definitely going to be challenges that will come along the way as I try and get back in the groove of things.”

One the ice, it didn’t look like there were many challenges for him Tuesday night. He got into multiple post-whistle scrums and ended up in the penalty box after one.

There was one moment where the layoff showed up. O’Connor did the second intermission interview with Altitude Sports’ Kyle Keefe. There were some heavy, deep breaths.

At one point,  outside the visitors’ locker room.

“A couple of those PKs gassed me out a little bit,” O’Connor said through a laugh. “You can do whatever you can do in practice, but at the end of the day, until you’re in a game, nothing will ever replicate the intensity, the battle, the shift length, how dynamic the game is.

“There’s a lot more to it. I think the legs will come back quickly. When the mind’s thinking a little quicker, the legs don’t have to do as much. But when your mind’s behind, you feel like you have to play catch-up at times.”

When he wasn’t catching his breath, O’Connor made an obvious impact. He played on a line with Nazem Kadri and Parker Kelly. He was the second forward over the boards after Brock Nelson during a 3-on-5 situation.

It was a long time coming. It’d be hard not to call it an overwhelming success.

“I thought he was really good for not having played all year long. Obviously, he did a great job with his conditioning,” Bednar said. “The conditioning wasn’t an issue. He wanted to keep playing, so he ends up with 15 minutes and had a great night.

“It was really nice to have him back.”