The Sedins dominate the third period of Game 1, like they’re expected to.
VANCOUVER - You can get so far on a team game, with the second line centre leading the way offensively, and that pesky third line chipping in along the way.
But eventually, the guys who made you the highest scoring team in the National Hockey League - the back to back Art Ross Trophy winners, and according to San Jose coach Todd McLellan, back to back Hart Trophy winners - have to win some games for you in the post-season, the way they did between October and April.
So as the Vancouver Canucks opened up their Western Conference Final against perennially dangerous San Jose Sharks, the news for Canucks fans was both good and better.
Vancouver beat San Jose 3-2 to open Round 3 with a home-ice win. And the Sedins were responsible for the come-from-behind effort, as Henrik assisted and scored in the third period while Daniel had no points in a Yeomen's effort.
"Our job is to score goals, to produce. That's no secret," Daniel said after a game in which he won a crucial draw with 56 seconds to play, blocked a big shot moments before that, and led both rosters with six shots on net. "We can't be down on ourselves because we're not scoring. If you create enough, the puck's going to go in sooner or later."
We've heard that tune plenty this spring from the Sedins. It only goes so far.
Finally, the Sedins delivered a ton of chances and two goals in their best period since about Game 3 of Round 1, when they dominated the third to lay claim to a 1-0 series edge.
"I didn't think our first two (periods) were bad, but the third, we took over. We were down, but … we took over," Daniel said. "We've been winning games, but maybe we haven't played as good as we wanted to. Tonight, for 60 minutes, I thought we played a really good game."
If you can forgive Roberto Luongo's nightly "Oops!" in these playoffs, the lack of Sedin scoring is the only thing that makes anyone here wonder if the Canucks can't be the first Canadian team to win a Stanley Cup since '93.
That makes their third period - a stanza simply dominated by Vancouver - one of the best signs in Vancouver since the sun was rumoured to be spotted sometime in the past week here.
"We're here to score goals, to produce," said Henrik, echoing his brother's quote. "We come to the rink, we know when we're not playing well. We don't have to hear that from everyone else. There have been games where we haven't been happy with our performance. There have been other games where we've been happy with the way we played, and in a few of those games we've been minus-a-lot. That doesn't help with the (media) coverage."
With production, of course, comes confidence. And with confidence comes some swagger, another thing we haven't seen from the twins in a while.
"You know, they're always thinking," Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault said, breaking into a smile. "Tonight, when we got caught out there without a centre (to take an important faceoff) at the end there and I called timeout, Hank turned and looked at me on the bench.
"He said, 'Let me switch sweaters with Danny.'"
In the end, the centre watched his brother the winger win a key faceoff with 56 seconds left.
"I should probably take over from Hank (in the circle)," Daniel joked. He also blocked a key shot, something the two are not noted for. "You've got to do it for this team. Everyone has got to do the same thing."
Here's a stat: Vigneault's teams are now 6-0 in series openers at home.
Here's another: San Jose has now lost seven straight Conference Final games, dating back to '04 versus the Calgary Flames.
With Antti Niemi playing like his hair is on fire in the Sharks nets however, this has the makings of a long series. And, by comparison to Round 2, an exciting one.
That flurry at the end of the second period, with referee Steve Kozari darting from post to post and leaning over a merciless barrage of Canucks shots and Niemi saves, packaged up more excitement in a 15-second window that we saw in six games against that dullard Nashville.
San Jose looked poised to walk off with Game 1, until a 25-minute assault by Vancouver became the momentum swing that the Sharks simply were unable to reverse.
"There have been nights where we lose our legs, but our minds are pretty sharp," observed McLellan. "Tonight, it started between the ears and it worked all the way through the body, We were like dogs chasing cars on the freeway. We just couldn't catch anybody."
The Canucks third line softened San Jose up, and the first line went in for the kill. Lest Canucks fans forget, that's how it is supposed to work, at this time of year.
"Henrik and Daniel?" asked McLellan. "One was the Most Valuable Player in the league last year, and the other's going to be the Most Valuable Player in the league this year. Do we worry about them? Absolutely."
The Sharks worry more now. Now that the Sedins have awakened.
Mark Spector is the lead columnist for Sportsnet.ca
Follow him on Twitter.com @SportsnetSpec
