EDMONTON — Magnus Paajarvi’s early NHL life has been spent under the radar.

For example, a tweet on Sunday said the Swedish rookie forward had his best game as an Edmonton Oiler against the Ducks in Anaheim on Sunday. It was a dazzling performance. But the first reply on Twitter was about fellow rookie Taylor Hall being invisible in the game, maybe because he was hurting after getting blasted with a hit against the Kings in Los Angeles the night before.

Welcome to Paajarvi’s world. It’s all Hall most of the time with Oilers fans — good or bad.

Paajarvi has flown well under the radar through the first half of his first NHL season as Hall and roommate Jordan Eberle have been praised up and down game after game.

Eberle even got more ink for having to rush to hospital to get his appendix removed than Paajarvi received for rushing down the wing on Sunday.

In some games, it’s difficult to notice the 19-year-old because he’s been playing on a third line — but not against the Ducks. He was playing keepaway on many shifts.

This was the powerful Swedish lad the 14-23-7 Oilers — who lost their

11th game in their last 13 starts on Sunday — were falling over to pick in 2009 when he fell into their lap at No. 10 overall in the June 2010 NHL entry draft.

“One of the best games I’ve seen Maggie play ... he’s big and he’s got lots of skill,” said Paajarvi’s centre Sam Gagner, who was also handful for the Ducks, with a goal, an assist and five shots on net.

“He backs off defenders with the way he can skate,” Gagner said. “And playing with Linus (countryman Omark), who controls the puck down low, it opens up room for both of us. I thought we did a really good job of creating offence off the cycle and, if we didn’t score, at least we were creating momentum.”

The Paajarvi-Gagner-Omark line was the best Oilers line by a country mile in Anaheim. The Ducks couldn’t handle them, at all.

Paajarvi beat defenceman

Andreas Lilja to the net and banged in a juicy Curtis McElhinney rebound of a Gagner shot for his first goal in a month-long drought. Omark fed Gagner for a one-timer on the very next shift late in the second period as the Oilers climbed out of a 3-0 hole with two goals in 26 seconds.

Omark, who was the culprit on the game-winner scored by ex-Oilers centre Jarret Stoll in Los Angeles on Saturday when he stayed out too long and was too tired on the backcheck, needed to win back the trust of the coaches in Anaheim, along with Paajarvi and Gagner.

“We certainly didn’t play our best in L.A. (minus 10 as a line). We needed a bounce-back game and talked about having some fun,” admitted Gagner, after they went plus-6 on the night, showing the crazy embryonic state of this team night to night.

Omark is under the gun more than Paajarvi. He has to keep making plays (he has eight points in 15 games) and stay away from defensive mistakes (minus-3) to stay here in his second recall from the Oklahoma City Barons of the American Hockey League.

Sunday’s game was Omark’s second most impressive, after a wonderful night against the Detroit Red Wings on Jan. 4 at Rexall Place. His pass to Gagner for the blast that beat the Ducks backup was a touch of magic. He faked like he was going to shoot in the slot when the lane opened up and casually fed it to Gagner.

“Linus is such a good playmaker. You have to be ready for anything when he’s got the puck. I had to be ready to one-time it ... great play. I pretty much had the open net,” said Gagner.

While Teemu Selannes scored twice to reach 620 career goals and 1,300 points, Paajarvi was

dominant. He looked, dare we say, like a young Glenn Anderson the way he was roaring around the Anaheim end of the ice, shift after shift.

He needs to get the puck in flight and on too many nights this season, his teammates haven’t got it to him. It’s a worry for the Oilers, who are taking a gun out of their arsenal when Paajarvi isn’t skating.

“Outstanding game for Magnus. That’s the speed he has to play with,” said Oilers head coach Tom Renney, who has been very patient with the rookie, even when the points (16) haven’t come. He’s dressed for all but two games this season. He was out with the flu in New York, and one as a healthy scratch.

Paajarvi has played an average of 14-1/2 minutes a night, with some fluctuating ice-time, but Renney knows the kid has only scratched the surface of his ability.

“When he’s attacking and

proactive, that’s when he’s at his best,” said Renney.

Paajarvi, who played close to four minutes more than his average

ice time, didn’t want to grade his game against the Ducks.

“Best game? I leave that up to you guys,” he said. “With Gagner and Omark, they create lots of stuff, but it doesn’t matter who scores the goals. We still have to win. That’s most important.”

But they’re not, with only two wins in their last 13. Lots of moral victories, entertaining losses, certainly in Anaheim and before that in Dallas, on the just completed trip when they fell 3-2 in both games. But seeing Paajarvi’s incandescent play against the Ducks is a very big positive.

ON THE BENCH: With captain Shawn Horcoff close to returning from a knee injury, along with Eberle, the Oilers have too many forwards. They’re already sitting Zack Stortini — six of the last seven. It’ll be interesting to see where Horcoff plays, if the coaches want to keep Gagner with the two Swedes and Hall in the middle with Ales

Hemsky and Dustin Penner.

jmatheson@edmontonjournal.com