Avalanche Briefs LANDESKOG BACK, IGINLA REACHES MAJOR MILESTONE OF 1,500 GAMES

montreal» The return of Avalanche captain Gabe Landeskog and the 1,500th game for Colorado winger Jarome Iginla served as big news from Saturday’s morning skate at the Bell Centre. Unfortunately, only embarrassment unfolded against the Montreal Canadiens in a “Hockey Night in Canada” broadcast.

Landeskog returned after missing 10 games with a lowerbody injury and played left wing with center Carl Soderberg and right winger Mikhail Grigorenko.

“Glad to be back. Feel good,” Landeskog said after the morning skate. “Took a little longer than what we expected at first. Around Thanksgiving, I got a little too excited once I got on the ice and wanted to push too hard. But I feel good now.”

Iginla, 39, started the game with Nathan MacKinnon’s line before moving to the fourth line with Joe Colborne and Andreas Martinsen. Iginla became the 16th member of the 1,500 club, and he’s on pace to catch No. 15 on the list, Steve Yzerman (1,514 games). Iginla is the third player to don an Avalanche sweater while reaching 1,500 games, joining forward Dave Andreychuk (1,639) and Ray Bourque (1,612).

“That’s neat. It will be really cool,” Landeskog said of Iginla’s feat. “Fifteen hundred. That’s a lot of stick tape, and a lot of

Toronto’s rookie phenom from Scottsdale, Ariz., scored his 12th goal of the season Saturday at Boston and is second in NHL rookie scoring behind Winnipeg’s Patrik Laine. Matthews, the No. 1 pick in the 2016 draft, scored four goals in his NHL debut and is regarded as the best American hockey player since Patrick Kane was selected first overall in 2007. And just think, Matthews considered playing for the University of Denver last season as a freshman. Instead, he played professionally in Switzerland. skates tied. It’s really hard to wrap your head around how many games he’s got.”

Iginla was shown on the Bell Centre big screen in the second period and the sellout crowd gave him a nice round of applause.

Avalanche defenseman Francois Beauchemin invited his father and the members of his hometown youth hockey club to Saturday’s morning skate at the Bell Centre. Beauchemin is from Sorel, Quebec, about 45 minutes outside of Montreal. … Forwards Soderberg, John Mitchell and Rene Bourque and defenseman Tyson Barrie did not participate in the morning skate, but everyone was available. Forward Cody McLeod and defenseman Eric Gelinas were the healthy scratches.