It was an emotional night at Ball Arena, with a player who recently made a comeback from a long absence scoring the game-winner in overtime.
That player was Dallas Stars forward Tyler Seguin, and the Colorado Avalanche is now behind in this Stanley Cup Playoffs series.
Seguin, who missed 58 games after hip surgery, scored 5:31 into overtime Wednesday night to help the Stars stun the Avalanche, 2-1, and take a 2-1 lead in this best-of-seven series.
Dallas has led for a total of 62 seconds in regulation in the series, but has won each of the past two games in overtime.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” Avs coach Jared Bednar said. “We’re playing one of the top teams in the league. … It’s a slugfest. So we went in there and won Game 1, they won Game 2. Now they came in here, won game one (in Denver). Now it’s up to us to go win game two. It’s a seven-game series for a reason.”
Avalanche captain Gabe Landeskog returned to the lineup for the first time since June 26, 2022, the day Colorado won the Stanley Cup against the Tampa Bay Lightning, but it was Seguin who was the hero. Mason Marchment, who started the overtime in the penalty box, set up Seguin on the rush.
Marchment took a double minor for high-sticking Brock Nelson with 39.5 seconds left in regulation. It gave the Avs more than three minutes of power-play time to start the overtime. Artturi Lehkonen had a great chance with Jake Oettinger out of position, but Stars defenseman Esa Lindell made the save of the night, blocking the shot with his hand.
Colorado went 0 for 6 on the power play.
“We’ve just got to start getting pucks to the net,” Avs defenseman Cale Makar said. “I think we saw it at the end of the third period there with 30 seconds left. I felt like we created some good chances and then also at the end of the power play in overtime. Again, I feel like we were creating chances, we just got to be more consistent with it.”
This game was a tight defensive battle, particularly at even strength.
Valeri Nichushkin had the lone goal of the opening period. With Ryan Lindgren and Mikko Rantanen in the box, Nichushkin used a screen from Nelson that Nikola Jokic would be proud of to shake free of Stars defenseman Thomas Harley and create a wide-open lane to the net for his first goal of this postseason at 8:09.
Dallas tied this contest midway through the third period after back-to-back Colorado penalties. The Avalanche killed off a Lehkonen infraction, but 10 seconds after Nathan MacKinnon went to the box for interfering with Game 2 Stars hero Colin Blackwell at center ice, this game was all square at 1-1.
Stars captain Jamie Benn redirected the puck from the high slot past Avs goalie Mackenzie Blackwood at 9:18 of the third.
Despite the electric atmosphere and the return of the captain, the Avs had arguably their worst period of the series to start. Nichushkin’s goal did give Colorado the lead, but Blackwood’s 14 saves were huge.
The start to this night was cinematic sports theater. Landeskog emerged from the locker room for the start of pregame warmups to a roar akin to the first bell toll of The Undertaker’s entrance at WrestleMania.
There were “Landy” chants, a lap around the ice before the rest of the Avs skaters joined him and fans jammed into the seats and aisles in the sections near where Colorado warmed up.
Landeskog was announced last in the starting lineup, which was met with a thunderous ovation that shook the press box above the last row of seats. There was a tribute video, similar to one when a player leaves for another team and returns, during the first television timeout.
“Yeah I mean it was amazing,” Landeskog said. “I don’t know, I’m just blessed and very fortunate to be in a position to feel those feelings and to feel … I don’t know what exactly was going through my body and mind at that time, but it was pretty special. That’s a memory for life. Simple as that. Yeah, Avs faithful, they make it special.”
The Avs captain knocked Rantanen to the ice for his first hit and set up MacKinnon for the team’s first shot on goal. The final line for Landeskog: 13:16 of ice time, a team-leading six hits and the second-best expected goals for percentage on the team (behind linemate Joel Kiviranta).
“It was great to have him back,” Bednar said. “I thought the building was incredible, like right from the start of the game. I was really happy with the way he played. I thought he had great, like he was physical right away, involved right away in a lot of different aspects of our game.”
Landeskog became the first player to ever have knee cartilage replacement surgery and return to NHL action. Other NHL players have had the procedure done, and while it improved their quality of life away from the ice, they were unable to play hockey at this level again.
A group of Landeskog’s friends and family members came to the game sporting shirts with No. 92 on them and a simple message: “The bigger the setback, the greater the comeback.”
Now it is the Avs who need a comeback against their playoff nemesis.
Want more Avalanche news? Sign up for the Avalanche Insider to get all our NHL analysis.
Originally Published: April 23, 2025 at 11:10 PM MDT
