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O'Reilly-Duchene-Downie line excels in OT win |
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Rick Sadowski
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Yeah, it looks like Ryan O'Reilly will be just fine as a left wing. He collected two goals, including a spectacular shorthanded goal in overtime, and an assist Friday night in the Colorado Avalanche's come-from-behind 4-3 win against the Los Angeles Kings at the Pepsi Center.
O'Reilly had an assist on defenseman Andre Benoit's goal 26 seconds into the game and he tied the contest 3-3 at 9:37 of the third by driving to the net before ending matters 45 seconds into the extra period.
After defenseman Nick Holden blocked a Kings shot in overtime, O'Reilly carried the puck down the right wing into the Kings end and performed a spinorama against defenseman Slava Voynov at the right side of the net before sliding the puck inside the far post.
"That was a move," Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said. "I saw Denny Savard make that as well when I was in Montreal. It looked like a Peter (Forsberg) move for sure."
The goal came during a four-on-three Kings advantage after Benoit was penalized for elbowing with 1:02 left in the third period.
"I saw how tired the other guy (Voynov) was," O'Reilly said. "I just took the puck wide, kept my feet moving and I just tried to get the puck on net. I was lucky the goalie (Martin Jones) was slow getting over."
The O'Reilly-Matt Duchene-Steve Downie line combined for three goals and four assists, with all but two of the assists coming in the third period and overtime.
"It was awesome," O'Reilly said. "Downs played great; he was physical and had a great presence. Duchie was setting up me and Downs everywhere. We made a lot of good plays. It seemed to work tonight. You play with those two guys and you're going to have success."
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Duchene had three assists and Downie, coming off surgery for a torn ACL, scored a power-play goal early in the third period, had three shots and was a plus-2. He showed no worse for wear midway through the period after getting involved in a scrum with a couple of Kings players right after O'Reilly drove to the net for the tying goal.
"Steve will bring that grit on that line which I like right now," Roy said. "He's talking a lot on the ice and he keeps everybody alert."
Duchene didn't have a shot on goal in 20:22 of ice time, but he was a playmaking force and won 13 of 20 faceoffs.
"We can't be complacent," Duchene said. "We have to keep getting better. We still have a ways to go before the season opener. As a line and individually, we have to keep elevating our play every day.
"Factor (O'Reilly) and I have played before," Duchene added. "We played a little in the Under 17 tournament and in the World Championships. I've known what kind of player he is since junior and he knows what kind of player I am since junior. It's easier to read each other.
"Downs is really gritty and he brings a lot of skill and a lot of good vision out there as well. On our first goal he made a heck of a breakout pass. He didn't get an assist for it, but it started with him making a good pass. It was a good result tonight as a line, but there's no reason we should get complacent. We have to keep pushing."
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Roy was especially happy that the Avalanche kept pushing after falling behind 3-1.
"It could have been easy for our group to give up a bit and they never did it," he said. "They stayed positive. It's funny because I think it's starting to click. The guys really want to make our fans proud of our team. They didn't want to give up, and I think our fans are going to start to love this team. Those guys played hard and I think if we bring this every night with consistency ... I can't say anything against our effort."
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Defenseman Chris Bigras had a more difficult time against the Kings than he did against Anaheim on Wednesday, but he still finished plus-1 in 17:55 of ice time with an assist on O'Reilly's tying goal.
"Not as good as the last game, but let's not forget he's 18 years old," Roy said of Bigras, who was the Avalanche's second-round pick in the 2013 NHL draft. "Being consistent every night, I think we've put the bar pretty high. Honestly, I'm very happy with him. In the third (period) I thought he started to play better."
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The Avalanche still took too many penalties and the Kings went 2-for-6 on the power play. The Avalanche went 1-for-7.
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Avalanche starting goalie Sami Aittokallio stopped 19 of 21 shots before he was replaced at 10:25 of the second period. Calvin Pickard faced five shots and permitted one goal.
After getting outshot 23-16 through 40 minutes, the Avalanche outshot the Kings 10-3 in the third period. O'Reilly's goal came on the only shot of overtime. He had a game-high seven shots.
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This was the Avalanche lineup for Friday's game:
Ryan O'Reilly-Matt Duchene-Steve Downie
Gabriel Landeskog-Paul Stastny-Paul Carey
Mark Olver-John Mitchell-Patrick Bordeleau
Mitchell Heard-Brad Malone-J.T. Wyman
Andre Benoit-Tyson Barrie
Chris Bigras-Stefan Elliott
Nick Holden-Nate Guenin
Sami Aittokallio
Calvin Pickard
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