Daniel and Henrik Sedin played their final game on home ice in Vancouver Thursday, and it was everything you could have hoped for. A come from behind OT win, from a classic Sedin passing play. You could not write a better story for Daniel and Henrik Sedin’s final home game.
The Sedins Final Game at Home
Exactly 10 years after Trevor Linden retired, the Sedin twins played the final home game of their careers. The game was against the Arizona Coyotes and was a game that held no value, outside sentimental. Fans in the building had not been that alive since the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals. The Stars aligned for the perfect send off to the Sweedish duo.
The Come-Back
In Every good story, the good guys always have to face adversity to come out the victor. Well within the first 4 minutes the Canucks were trailing by 1. The Coyotes took full advantage of the Canucks’ tendency to let in an early goal. But as luck would have it early in the second Daniel tied the game with an assist from his brother on a brilliant play. Later in the second period, the Canucks fell 3-1 to end the frame.
Early in the third Jake Virtanen scored right of the face-off to bring the score to 3-2, they were back in it. Around 6 minutes later Brendan Leipsic had an unassisted goal off a spin move no one saw coming. The Game was now tied and ready to be pushed to 3 on 3 overtime.
Game Winner in OT
The twins came out to start the extra time. Rogers Arena was electric, not a single able body was sitting in their seat. Nothing amounted to the first shift, the second crew came out when Richard Panik took a tripping call on Micael Del Zotto to put the Canucks up a man. Every Canucks fan knew what they wanted at this moment. The twins famous for their cycle, for their puck possession, for their power play should be on the ice, but they just got off. Coach Travis Green took a timeout to let the veteran power play artists rest.
Bo Horvat won the faceoff, and in what many Canucks fans have learned to love was lots of passing and few shots. The puck was flying around the offensive zone when finally, Edler sent the Puck to Daniel Sedin. Daniel passed to Henrik, back to Daniel, shoots, scores and the building was never louder.
The Numbers 22 and 33
Though it was nothing but a coincidence there were some pretty spectacular happenstances to go along with the night. Let’s start at the beginning, the game tieing goal was scored 33 seconds into the second period by Daniel Sedin (#22), assisted by his brother Henrik (#33) and Alex Edler. This was Daniel’s 22nd Goal of the year and Edler’s 33rd point of the season. That is kind of neat right? It gets weirder.
Jake Virtanen scored a goal to bring the Canucks within one, assisted by Bo Horvat, his 22nd assist of the season. The Game went to OT were 2:33 into the extra frame Daniel scored. Alex Edler (#23) passed to Daniel, who passed to Henrik before giving to back to Daniel who put the game away on the power play. This was Daniels 23rd goal of the season. If you count the OT into the time of the 3rd period the GWG was scored at 22:33. The icing on the cake being the face-offs in the game was 33-22 in favour of the Canucks.
The Fans
The Vancouver Canucks franchise knew this wasn’t only about the twins. It was also about giving the fans a chance to say goodbye to the workhorses of the team. Outside Rogers Arena was a wall to allow the fans to leave a message for the twins. Rogers Arena opened its doors to allow fans in early. Fans packed against the glass an hour early to watch opening warmups, one last chance to see the twins up close. As the game ensued everytime the Sedin’s were on the jumbotron, or stepped out for a shift the building went haywire with applause. Countless times there were delays dropping the puck for the twins to wave at the roaring fans.
At the start of the third period, the fans tributed the twins Scandinavian heritage with a Viking Clap for the first time in franchise history. Henrik said he would like to see the Viking Clap be something the Canucks could become known for. Along with that, countless chants could be heard echoing through the buzzing crowd. Ranging from “one more year” to “Go Sedins Go” the building had a playoff-like atmosphere, and when Daniel scored the game-winner it sounded like they just won Stanley Cup.
The Perfect Ending
With the position the team is in, far outside the playoff race, this was the perfect ending to their career. At the end of the game, both twins have passed the 50 point threshold and Daniel Sedin leads the team in scoring. The twins didn’t wait until they were forced out of the game from injury or failing to produce, they left on top. This was a storybook ending for the Twins. It’s only fair they got this send-off, they deserved it after such an amazing career. #ThankYouSedins
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