Avalanche captain and all-star left wing Gabe Landeskog is prepared to return to the lineup Friday, just three weeks after he was projected to miss 4-to-6 weeks with a separated shoulder.

“I feel great. I’m ready to go. I guess we’ll find out (Friday),” Landeskog said after completing an optional practice Thursday.

Colorado coach Jared Bednar hopes to add Landeskog to the lineup in a huge game with playoff implications against Arizona at the Pepsi Center. But that decision won’t be made until after the morning skate, he said.

“He’s definitely feeling better,” Bednar said. “He’s a possibility for (Friday). He’s exactly what you’d expect from our captain, putting in long, hard hours in the training room and in the gym and doing everything he possibly can to get ready.”

Landeskog, the Avs’ second-leading goal-scorer with 33, has missed nine games, a stretch where the team has gone 6-2-1 to climb into playoff position. Colorado (35-29-13, 83 points) is in the eighth and final Western Conference playoff spot, two points ahead of Arizona (37-33-7).

“It’s been awesome,” Landeskog said of the Avs’ recent stretch, including a six-game points streak (5-0-1). “The first few days are tough. You feel like you’re letting your team down. You feel like you’re letting the Avs fans down. You feel like, most importantly, you’re letting the boys down in here. But once those first few days of frustration passes, then it’s back to rehab. (Going 6-2-1) has really put us in a good spot here, coming down to the last five games.

“Hopefully I can come back and just really fall in line and keep doing what we’re doing.”

If the team’s original prognosis held true, his earliest return would have been the day before the April 6 regular-season finale at San Jose. The playoffs begin April 10 or April 11.

“For me, it’s not only a playoff push but it’s after that, too. We’re looking for a long spring here and that’s really what’s been pushing me, what’s been driving me — it’s wanting to come back and wanting to help the team — but especially down here in April, May and June, and see what we can do,” Landeskog said. “That’s been a real big motivator for me.”

Landeskog credits a good chunk of his early return to head trainer Matt Sokolowski and Dr. Eric McCarty, among others.

“The medical guys have done a great job — at the start obviously assessing what it was and what we had to do to move forward,” Landeskog said. “We put together a plan and were grinding away, day after day.”

The Avs are working a similar plan with all-star right winger Mikko Rantanen, who will miss his fourth game Friday with an injury to his midsection. The team’s second-leading scorer with 87 points (31) goals is only doing off-ice rehabilitation. Bednar had no update on when he might begin skating.