Another potential lift for the Avalanche could come from the return of captain Gabriel Landeskog. The forward was activated from injured reserve Monday and skated in warmups before not playing. He hasn’t played an NHL game since June 26, 2022, when he had an assist in a 2-1 series-clinching victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final.

“He’s just such a great leader within the locker room,” O’Connor said. “He has everyone’s respect. Anytime he talks, [it’s an] everyone-listens-type thing, and it’s a huge motivating factor for a group.

“His presence, it’s hard to replicate. It’s sort of a group effort that we’ve tried to do over the last couple of years, whereas ‘Landy’, just having the ‘C’, the type of player he is, the type of person he is. I think when the time comes, if it comes, there will be a huge boost for our group, and we’re really hoping that happens soon.”

Landeskog’s debut could be part of several changes for the Avalanche. One particular area of focus for Bednar is the second line, which hasn’t done enough in his eyes through the first two games.

“We’re thinking about it right now, because we need to get some offense out of those guys,” Bednar said. “I think they’ve been a responsible defending line, which is great. You’re going to win some matchups, you’re going to lose some, you’re going to break even on some, right? But a second line is also required [to] or it’s very important that they create some offense, and they haven’t been creating much offense as a line, so we might have to think about switching some things around for Game 3.”