DENVER — Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog took the ice in his first NHL game in nearly three years Wednesday night in a 2-1 overtime loss to the Dallas Stars in Game 3 of their first-round series.

It marked his first NHL appearance since June 26, 2022, when he and the Avalanche beat Tampa Bay to win the Stanley Cup. He had been sidelined because of a chronically injured right knee.

Landeskog started alongside Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Necas. He played just over four minutes in the first period, making an immediate impression in Game 3 by hitting Stars forward Mikko Rantanen, who used to be Landeskog’s teammate. He had no shots on goal but finished with a team-leading six hits in 13:16 of ice time.

The Stars took a 2-1 series lead.

“Felt great in all areas tonight in terms of being back,” Landeskog said. “Very special night regardless of the outcome.”

It was an emotional lead-up to the game for Landeskog. There were the ovations from 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!” The team also played a video tribute, with Landeskog tapping his heart in appreciation.

Landeskog said he felt “blessed and very fortunate” to be embraced by the crowd.

“I don’t know exactly what was going through my mind and body at that time, but it was pretty special, and that’s a memory for life. Simple as that,” Landeskog said. “Avs faithful, they make it special, you know? It’s a special place to play, it’s a special place to live and raise a family. And obviously the last three years have been difficult at times. And to come back and feel that love, I mean, incredible. So it means a lot.”

Landeskog said Rantanen welcomed him back when the two lined up for the opening faceoff Wednesday night.

“Regardless of what jersey he wears I love him. He’s a good friend of mine,” Landeskog said of Rantanen after the game. “But in this series, we’re obviously not friends when we’re playing. But obviously very special to be out there for that.”

It was Landeskog’s first game with the Avalanche in 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 game, according to NHL Stats. The last one to do so was longtime Avalanche forward and Hall of Famer Peter Forsberg.

“I feel surprisingly calm and in control right now. I know the butterflies and the nerves will come, I’m sure,” Landeskog said during a pregame interview. “I found myself thinking about this moment a lot over the last three years. And now that it’s here, it’s the reverse — I’m thinking a lot about the hard work that’s gone into it, some of the ups, a lot of the downs, sacrifices and support I’ve had along the way.

“Thankful for everybody and all their support, but now it’s go time so I’m excited to get out there.”

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.

“Everyone is rooting for him. It’s a great comeback story,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said after morning skate. “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.

“Adding him back into our locker room, he’s almost an extension of the coaching staff, but he’s still one of the guys and the guy that everyone looks up to. You can’t get enough of that this time of the year.”

Landeskog’s injury dates to the 2019-20 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 No. 3 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 — or him on them.

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

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

It’s not just the Los Angeles Kings who are beating the Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers are also beating themselves.

That was the response Wednesday from Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch after he watched his team allow six goals for the second straight game in a 6-2 loss to the Kings in Game 2 of the Western Conference quarterfinals.

“The last two games, [the Oilers have allowed] five on the special teams, so that’s a problem,” Knoblauch said. “The other one is just mistakes. I don’t necessarily see us — I don’t see L.A. making plays to beat us. Mistakes, gift-wrapping opportunities. That’s different. If they make a heck of a play and [are] able to score goals, you just tip your hat and say, ‘There’s not much we’re able to do.’ But I don’t think I’ve seen very much of that. I think it’s been mostly gaffes that have cost us.”

Entering the postseason, the defending Western Conference champions were already facing questions about how their defensive structure would perform against the Kings. Most of those concerns were centered around their goaltending, which finished the regular season in the bottom 10 in team save percentage, according to Natural Stat Trick. The concerns were further amplified by the fact that one of their best players, defenseman Mattias Ekholm, would miss the first round with an undisclosed injury.

Game 1 against the Kings saw the Oilers fall into a 4-0 deficit before a late second-period goal from Leon Draisaitl sparked a comeback that saw them tie game with 88 seconds left in the third before Phillip Danault scored the game winner with 42 seconds remaining in L.A.’s 6-5 victory.

In Game 2, the Kings jumped out to a 3-0 lead before goals from Draisaitl in the second and former Kings winger Viktor Arvidsson in the third cut the lead to 3-2 before the Kings scored three unanswered goals in less than five minutes.

Knoblauch pulled goaltender Stuart Skinner after the fifth goal before his replacement, Calvin Pickard, allowed a goal on three shots in a little more than a minute worth of work.

“We’re down 5-2, give him a break, but also sometimes when the goalies change, there’s a little boost to our team, an immediate spark,” Knoblauch said. “That’s a stretch, it’s a long shot after the TV timeout, give it a try.”

Knoblauch was asked by reporters how he’ll assess who will start in Game 3 between Skinner, who has allowed 11 goals on 58 shots through two games, or Pickard.

The second-year Oilers coach said he’ll get together with his coaching staff and decide.

But Knoblauch added that he believed Skinner was not at fault for the team’s defensive troubles.

“I don’t think there’s been any bad goals. There’s been a lot of goals but the chances that we’re giving up are Grade A’s,” Knoblauch said. “I’m not sure that are many, ‘Geez, where’s the save there?’ It’s been very difficult for a goaltender playing. More structure and the less we’re giving up those opportunities, it’s a lot easier for Stuart Skinner or Calvin Pickard playing.”

Brandt Clarke scored the Kings’ first goal on the power play as he was able to get open in the slot for a tip-in on an odd-skater rush. Quinton Byfield pushed it to 2-0 when he walked in on net and fired a point-blank attempt that beat Skinner while Andrei Kuzmenko‘s goal saw him get behind the Oilers on the power play.

“When you’re making that gaffe and a guy is all by himself in the slot and we’ve seen probably three of those in the last two games, that’s not giving your goaltender much help,” Knoblauch said.

With Clarke, Kuzmenko and Anze Kopitar all scoring power-play goals, it led to Knoblauch addressing why the Oilers have struggled whenever the Kings have been on the extra-skater advantage.

Edmonton’s penalty kill was among the factors in its run to the Stanley Cup finals last season. The Oilers were an NHL-best 94.3% in short-handed situations.

Through two games this postseason, they’ve already allowed five goals on 10 power-play opportunities.

“They made a change at the end of the season, and it’s a good power play,” Knoblauch said. “There’s a lot of good moving parts there and it’s difficult to check all five of those guys. They bring a different element. It’s exactly what we expected from them. We saw a lot of penalty kills in our last regular-season game against them, and obviously, we’ve looked at the other games they’ve played against other teams. I don’t think there’s anything that’s unexpected.”

Knoblauch’s recollection of what the Oilers saw from the Kings toward the end of the regular season plays into what could become part of a larger narrative throughout the series.

In their last four combined regular-season and playoff games against the Kings, the Oilers have allowed 20 goals. That includes a 3-0 loss on April 5 followed by a 5-0 loss on April 14.

With the series set to resume Friday in Edmonton, the Oilers will try to find the cohesion that has eluded them against a team they’ve faced in the first round for what is now a fourth consecutive season.

Over their previous three encounters, they’ve split the first two games with the Oilers going on to win the series. But with the Kings leaving L.A. with a pair of victories, they now stand two wins shy of advancing to the second round for the first time since the 2013-14 season, when they won their most recent Stanley Cup.