The Vancouver Sun
April 17, 2001
By Elliott Pap

In the crucible of playoff hockey, names can be made while others can be forgotten.

Henrik and Daniel Sedin made their names Monday night with a performance that only hinted of the magic to come.

The 20-year-old identical twins from Ornskoldsvik, Sweden, were stupendous in defeat, engineering two goals that kept the sellout crowd at GM Place in a frenzy before Vancouver Canucks fell 4-3 to the Colorado Avalanche on Peter Forsberg's overtime goal.

Daniel scored the first playoff goal of his career, with an assist from Henrik in the second period, and then the brothers brilliantly combined to set up linemate Todd Bertuzzi for Vancouver's third goal, which briefly gave the Canucks their third lead of the night.

Forsberg may still be the most famous hockey-playing son of the northern Swedish town, perhaps followed by injured Canuck captain Markus Naslund, but the two red-headed forwards are clearly the next wave.

"That was the best crowd I ever played in front of and I just never felt tired,'' said Henrik Sedin. "It was unbelievable out there. I felt very good. Yeah, maybe it was my best game for the Canucks. But it was disappointing to lose. Peter made a great move in overtime and there is not much you can do about it.''

Daniel and Hernik are obviously benefitting from the additional ice time that is up for grabs with Naslund and centre Andrew Cassels stuck in the sick bay. Henrik played nearly 18 minutes Monday and was plus-2. Daniel played 17:01 and finished plus-1.

They have combined for six points in the first three games of the series and have become a handful for the Avalanche defence, especially with their puck possession and down-low attack.

"They played excellent,'' said Bertuzzi. "They worked hard and they got their noses dirty.''

According to Henrik, the twins have rarely received the room they did back home to make some of their spectacular plays.

"In Sweden, you get like four or five chances every game to do something special and over here, it's maybe every fifth game,'' he said.

The Canucks also unveiled another piece of their future when defenceman Bryan Allen was thrown into the fray as a replacement for the injured Scott Lachance. It was thought that the more experienced Jason Strudwick would take Lachance's spot on the blueline but the coaching staff opted for the 20-year-old Allen and deployed Strudwick sparingly as a 12th forward.

Allen played 11:33, mostly alongside Drake Berehowsky, and recorded three hits and one blocked shot.

"I found out I was playing after the morning skate,'' Allen said. "It's tough to take a loss in your first playoff game but it was a great experience. It was good and it was bad at the same time.''



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