Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog hilariously reacts to Nathan MacKinnon’s endless praise

The Colorado Avalanche faced off with the Minnesota Wild in Game 2 of their Stanley Cup Playoffs series on Tuesday night. Game 2 picked up where Game 1 between the Avalanche and Wild left off.

Nathan MacKinnon had two assists, while Gabriel Landeskog had a goal in the first 8:24 of the game. Both would add another point later in the game, and after the contest, MacKinnon had nothing but praise for Landeskog. The reaction to the praise by Landeskog was priceless.

“It’s just a void you can’t fill. We waited a long time for him to come back, and it was worth the wait,” MacKinnon said in response to a question about having the captain back in the lineup. “I think every, you know, every month he got better this season. It’s a lot of time to come back from and I think obviously as a person just a human, awesome to have around and um yeah, I mean..”

“That’s enough,” Landeskog said with a smile, cutting off the rambling MacKinnon.

Landeskog had a long road to get back to the ice. In Game 6 of the 2022 Stanley Cup Final, he had the assist on a MacKinnon goal that tied the game with the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Avalanche would win the game, clinching the Stanley Cup. After winning the Cup, it was discovered that Landeskog needed knee surgery, which would hold him out 12 weeks. Then, it was discovered that his knee required a cartilage transplant surgery. The result was that he missed the entire 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons, plus the 2024-25 regular season.

He returned for the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, scoring a goal with three assists in five games. This season, the captain found the back of the net 14 times while adding 21 helpers in 60 games. In the playoffs, he has been dominant. Landeskog has lit the lamp three times while chipping in four assists. He has points in five of the six games this postseason, and two multi-point games.

Meanwhile, MacKinnon has been dominant in the playoffs. He has four goals with six assists so far this year in the playoffs, while he has a goal and two assists in both of the first two games of the series with the Wild.

Game 3 sends the series to Minnesota on Saturday night.

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