Colorado Avalanche Injury Update for the Final Playoff Push

Some Colorado Avalanche players are getting healthy, while others are still out for tonight’s all-important game against the Coyotes.

The Colorado Avalanche enter into today’s game trying to garner a stronger hold on the final wild card playoff berth. They’ll be hosting one of the teams chasing them, the Arizona Coyotes.

Luckily for the Avalanche, the injury bug that has taken a big bite out of them recently might be easing up a little bit. In fact, the team may be getting back on of the key pieces of their lineup — the captain.

I’d say the captain of any team is integral to its success. However, Gabriel Landeskog is not only the heart and soul of the team, he’s an All Star forward who helped make up part of the NHL’s hottest line for most of the year. He already has career numbers, and he was looking to pad those total some when Stars goalie Ben Bishop flattened him against the boards and separated his shoulder.

That incident happened three weeks ago, when the team doctors stated he’d need four to six weeks to recover. Well, today this happened:

That’s right. That’s our captain in burgundy, not no-contact red. He’d practiced with the team on Tuesday, but it was a no-contact day. Not today — he was a full participant.

Jared Bednar has listed his as “possible” for tomorrow’s game against the Arizona Coyotes. Landeskog, however, has declared himself fit, “I feel great. I’m ready to go.” He did acknowledge he had to wait and see how things went during morning skate tomorrow.

Here’s his full interview:

In less promising news, Landeskog’s partner in crime and linemate, Mikko Rantanen, did not take to the ice. The practice was optional, but he spent it working out. And strolling around delighting fans:

I think it’s safe to say we’d be more delighted to hear the second leading scorer on our team was skating and also a possibility for the upcoming game. However, his torso injury appears to be still plaguing him.

In weird news, Avs insider Adrian Dater reported that Tyson Jost appeared to get “dinged up” in the Vegas game, adding, “He finished out the game, but you hope it’s not something that will develop in a negative way overnight.”

Well, that sounded less than ideal. However, Jost participated in practice and later in the UCHealth Hockey 101 event:

Of course, so did Mikko Rantanen, so I guess that participation means little. Anyway, he’s said to be just fine.

In case you didn’t hear, we won’t be seeing Conor Timmins this year at any level. Dater reported in an article a week ago that the team had shut him down for the season. He’s been with the Colorado Eagles, practicing regularly and even going on road trips to bond with the players. However, this late in the season they don’t want to try and slot him into the lineup. What’s more, he’s still plagued by headaches.

I hope rest does it for the Colorado Avalanche prospect. For now, though, let’s just hope our captain had a good night’s rest and kills it at morning skate , thus showing he’s ready to resume battle with his team.