The Peter, Paul and Milan line appears to be a hit.
As big a hit as “Puff, the Magic Dragon?” We’ll have to see.
Against the Vancouver Canucks, a change in line personnel by Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville paid off handsomely in Colorado’s 6-3 victory Wednesday night at the Pepsi Center.
With his team down a goal in the second period, Quenneville put Peter Forsberg on a line with Paul Stastny and Milan Hejduk. By the end of the period the Avs turned a 2-1 deficit into a 5-3 lead.
Hejduk scored two goals, and Forsberg and Stastny assisted twice in the victory that moved the Avs into seventh place in the Western Conference standings.
Forsberg took Ryan Smyth’s spot on the second line, after a rough first period for Smyth. His turnover and subsequent penalty helped the Canucks score their first goal, and he has yet to score a goal since returning from a concussion and shoulder injury.
Forsberg, meanwhile, was in vintage form. His skating appeared much faster, and he was more involved in the overall play in than previous games.
He had some passing gems, none better than the patented turn-and-dish maneuver after a hard pass around the boards in his own end. That led to a 2-on-1 break between Hejduk and Stastny, in which Hejduk deposited the puck to the back of the net guarded by Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo.
That gave the Avs a 4-2 lead at 10:29 of the second, and Luongo was chased from the game at 11:31, when Ben Guite found a loose puck after some Canucks miscommunication at the net.
The Avs also got goals from Stastny and Cody McLeod.
