Gabriel Landeskog ripped into the officials after the call that wrecked Game 3 for Colorado
Gabriel Landeskog isn't holding back. The Avalanche captain just put the officials directly into the postgame conversation.
That's a player drawing a clear line. The Vegas tying goal, in his view, shouldn't have existed. The non-call set up the rest of the night.
The Avs threw everything at the Golden Knights and walked away empty. Landeskog gave the credit for the effort and pointed the finger at the whistle.
It's the second straight game this series featuring a major officiating storyline. Pavel Dorofeyev had a goal taken away on a Sunday review. Now Colorado watches one go in that they wanted blown dead.
The captain has been one of Colorado's most consistent playoff performers this spring. 9 points in 11 games, with 4 goals and 5 assists, after returning from years of knee trouble.
Why officiating is now the loudest story in this series
The Avalanche finished first overall at 55-16-11 with 121 points and a plus-99 differential. The roster doesn't need help from the refs. The optics around two straight controversial calls don't help anyone.
Vegas isn't backing down either. John Tortorella's group has won two of three after entering on a 7-0-3 mark over its last 10 regular-season games.
Was the trip Landeskog described actually missable from the official's angle? Maybe. Was it the kind of call that gets made in a regular-season game with no eyes on it? Almost certainly yes.
That's the part that wears on players. The same play, same speed, same contact gets a different whistle depending on the stakes.
Jared Bednar took heat for his MacKinnon decisions earlier in the game. The captain's quote shifts the post-mortem somewhere else entirely.
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GM Chris MacFarland will manage the league office side of this. He's not going to fine his captain for honest postgame frustration over a tight series moment.
Nathan MacKinnon's status is the bigger storyline still hanging over Game 4. A 127-point machine limping through important shifts changes everything Colorado plans.
The puck drops again soon. The next ref crew is going to feel it. So is the league office.
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YESTERDAY
MAY 24, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Tomas Hertl | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| William Karlsson | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Mark Stone | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Kaedan Korczak | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Mitch Marner | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Devon Toews | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Jack Drury | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Brett Howden | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Nazem Kadri | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Keegan Kolesar | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Gabriel Landeskog | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Dylan Coghlan | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Parker Kelly | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nathan MacKinnon | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Manson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Martin Necas | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Shea Theodore | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Rasmus Andersson | - | - | - | |
| Ivan Barbashev | - | - | - | |
| Brent Burns | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||