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New line powers Avs to win

February 18, 2012, 12:18 AM ET [14 Comments]
Aaron Musick
Colorado Avalanche Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
With Matt Duchene and Peter Mueller out, the Avs needed some production from new players.

Answer: Mark Olver. Olver, who has missed most of the season with a concussion and has recently been playing in Lake Erie, returned to the Avalanche lineup in style with a two point night.

Olver lined up with Ryan O'Reilly and Gabriel Landeskog and that line produced all of the offense for the team in a 3-1 victory against the Edmonton Oilers.

One thing that stands out about Olver is his heart. Olver is 5'10 170 pounds. He's not a big guy but he plays bigger. Olver goes into the dirty places on the ice and attacks players that tower over him. Yet he never backs down. Going over the middle of the ice, down the wings, along the boards, Olver is hungry for the puck and once he has it he is looking to move it to a place that can score.

In the offensive zone, Olver is getting into the right areas and defensively, he's engaging to jar the puck loose, get it moving the other way. In short: Olver is a top six scorer with a grinder mentality. That mentality matches O'Reilly and Landeskog to a "T" and that is why that line worked.

Once again, Erik Johnson was fantastic. He's set a new career high with a goal in three straight games. Johnson should thank Olver for his goal as Olver took a puck in the slot, didn't shoot it and instead wheeled it back to Johnson right in his wheelhouse where he could unload on it. The Oilers couldn't adjust to the shot and it went in.

Johnson was also plus-2 in the game, putting his second half totals to plus-9. Tomorrow will the be the one year anniversary of the trade and finally, after a year, Johnson is not showing his potential, he's not showing glimpses, he is showing his ability. Potential is what a player can be, ability is a player actually playing to his potential. During the second half of the year, Johnson is doing that.

Semyon Varlamov is also getting back into form with 26 saves. He's got his confidence back and is taking some of the lessons learned from watching Jean-Sebastien Giguere, putting them out there on the ice.

Now the Avs roll into Winnipeg, hoping to get Matt Duchene (and possibly Peter Mueller) back into the lineup. With the Avs three points back of eighth, five points out of sixth, now is the time to get a winning streak going.

Three Stars

1. Mark Olver- sparked the O'Reilly line
2. Ryan O'Reilly- three assists
3. Gabriel Landeskog- goal and an assist

Facepalm of the Game
Ryan Wilson wins for his lack of physical play/awareness that led to the only Oiler goal. Ryan Jones was standing in front of the net and Wilson wasn't exerting enough to move him and it burned the Avs.

Bang bang play of the Game

Everything went right on this play. Landeskog entering the zone, Johnson driving to the net, O'Reilly coming in behind and oh yeah, a pretty nice move/shot by Olver.

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