Avalanche's Gabriel Landeskog sends clear message to team ahead of crucial Game 4 against Dallas Stars

Gabriel Landeskog is ready for a bigger role with the Colorado Avalanche in Game 4 against the Dallas Stars. After playing his first NHL game in nearly three years, he has earned a move to the second line. Landeskog will also get time on the first power-play unit as Colorado looks to tie the series on Saturday.

Following Game 3, Landeskog sent a clear message to his team.

"Pretty plain and simple, let's go play our best game this series," Landeskog told the media on Saturday. "We've done a lot of good things, small margin for error, as we know, and it's a fine balance of sticking with it, doing the things we have been doing to kind of control some of the games. But also we need a little bit more, especially in the offensive zone."

Landeskog also said the team must stick to what has worked and keep pushing the pace. He added that exploiting Dallas’ defensive weaknesses will be important.

"I think there are some areas where we can continue to get better exploit some of them, some of what we see as their weaknesses defensively, and comes down to execution," Landeskog added. "A lot of it. So message would be to stick with it and continue to push the base, continue to put pucks in the bodies."

For Game 4, Gabriel Landeskog is expected to play on a line with Brock Nelson and Valeri Nichushkin. Jonathan Drouin will join Coyle and Kiviranta.

Landeskog was drafted second by Colorado in 2011 and has been an important player for the Avalanche. He has recorded 571 points in 738 regular-season games and 67 points in 70 playoff games.

Avalanche coach Jared Bednar compared Gabriel Landeskog’s comeback to Mario Lemieux's

In Game 3 on Wednesday, Gabriel Landeskog finished with a game-high six hits and over 13 minutes of ice time. He played on the third line with Charlie Coyle and Joel Kiviranta.

Colorado Avalanche coach Jared Bednar praised Landeskog’s play after a long break.

"It's remarkable, really. When you think about the time he's been away, and then you see the way he played the other night, I thought he was incredible under those circumstances," Bednar said (via NHL.com on Friday).

"The only guy that's missed any kind of time like that, that I know of, that's come back and was equally as good or better than when he left was Mario [Lemieux]."

Bednar said Gabriel Landeskog’s experience and work ethic are big reasons he is back in the lineup.