Hank hits 1,000 points in win over Panthers
Canucks’ captain puts 1,000th point between old mate Luongo’s pads
After facing questions all week — and intermittently for weeks prior — about nearing 1,000 points in the National Hockey League, Henrik Sedin seemed just about out of answers before Friday’s game.
“As a player, there’s going to be people who like you, and there’s going to be people who don’t like you,” the Vancouver Canucks’ captain said when asked how he wants to be remembered. “So, as a player, I don’t care how I’m remembered. If I can stand here after I’m done and people say that I’ve been the same throughout this journey and I haven’t changed, then I’m happy.”
Since his first Canuck training camp in Stockholm 16½ years ago, Sedin is a little leaner, quicker, richer and hardened to criticism. But essentially he is unchanged.
“To be honest, I don’t think we care about the 1,000 points,” twin brother Danny said after the morning skate. “It’s about: Was the team successful? Did the younger players learn something from us, like we learned from Trevor (Linden) and Markus (Naslund)? I couldn’t care less about the points. But if some of our teammates learned something from us, we’ll be happy.”
The Sedins’ impact on the Canucks, and most people who have walked through their dressing room doors the last decade, has been profound. The organization has changed, been elevated by the Sedins’ own high standards, even as the twins from Ornskoldsvik, Sweden remain as they were.
When he slipped the puck between old friend and teammate Roberto Luongo’s pads, fittingly after a nice pass from Daniel at the end of a beautiful rush, Henrik Sedin celebrated less than most Friday against the Florida Panthers.
Canuck players stormed the ice to mob Henrik, Luongo graciously skated out of his net to give Sedin a congratulatory pat, and the sellout crowd of 18,865 at Rogers Arena went crazy.
For once, there wasn’t anyone who didn’t like Sedin.
“When I saw my teammates coming out on the ice, that’s when I lost it a little bit,” Henrik said. “It was very special. If I retire today, that was the most memorable moment for me as a player. Overall, it couldn’t be more perfect. Timing was good. Home ice. And, like I said, the most special part was having the team there, too.”
Sedin’s tying goal at 5:50 of the second period, a backhand deke through Luongo’s pads, made Henrik the first Canuck to reach 1,000 points — 32 points more than Daniel has, 244 more than the third-highest Canuck scorer ever, Naslund.
Luca Sbisa’s goal made Henrik a winner on his memorable night, as the Canucks beat the Panthers 2-1 to extend their post-Christmas run to 8-1-3.
The defenceman gathered a loose puck after Luongo fought off Daniel Sedin’s slapshot, then calmly fired into the top corner to break the tie at 3:07 of the third period. It was the 16th goal in eight NHL seasons for Sbisa, who trails Henrik by 914 points.
Sedin is the 85th player in NHL history to reach 1,000, but just the 18th to achieve that mark with the only team for which he has played.
Luongo, who won 252 games for the Canucks between 2006 and 2014 and preceded Henrik as captain, was denied a milestone of his own. The 37-year-old will soon become just the fifth goalie in NHL history to win 450 games. Luongo passed Jacques Plante and Terry Sawchuk earlier this season.
One day Luongo’s No. 1 should hang in Rogers Arena next to the Sedins’ 22 and 33.
Until Henrik scored, the most dramatic moment in the game was when Luongo skated to the bench during a TV timeout halfway through the first period and appeared to be injured. He was met on the ice by the Panthers’ trainer, but stayed in the game.
A few minutes later, he robbed Loui Eriksson, who had Henrik’s 1,000th point on his stick when Sedin found him alone in the slot in front of Luongo.
We’re not sure how Trent Klatt, Jason King, Anson Carter, Steve Bernier, Alex Burrows or Jannik Hansen would have fared in that position, but Eriksson released the puck slowly and weakly, allowing Luongo time to make a lunging catch.
Henrik made no mistake when given the chance to score himself.
“I think he was happy to get it in a win,” Daniel said. “When you hear 1,000, that’s when you kind of realize it’s a lot of points.”
“Unless you play with them, you don’t really understand or appreciate the way they play,” Sbisa said of the Sedins. “They make those fancy plays and you don’t see them throwing ( bodychecks). But that doesn’t define toughness.
“For a decade, they’ve been the best players on this team and opponents abuse them every night. But they don’t miss games, they don’t miss a shift. They always get back up.”
They always do.