Henrik Sedin says Canucks are different this year

LOS ANGELES -- With their backs against the wall, the Vancouver Canucks were lifted to victory in Game 4 of their opening-round series against the Los Angeles Kings by Art Ross Trophy winner and Hart Trophy candidate Henrik Sedin.

He broke a 4-4 tie late in the third period Wednesday night at Staples Center and the Canucks went on to the 6-4 victory and evened the best-of-7 Western Conference Quarterfinal series at 2-2.

Sedin spoke after the game, and here's what he had to say:

Q: Talk about the game-winning goal, where your brother set you up.

Sedin: Danny (twin brother Daniel) made a great play. He was patient on it. I thought he was going to give it to me right away, but he held on to it. I was going to pass it at first, but I took the shot and it was nice to see it go in.

Q: Coach Alain Vigneault said he wanted his best players to play like his best players. Was that the case in the third period of this game?

Sedin: This is the playoffs; the last game we were as good in the third but we were out of it, and that was the difference. I think people have to understand it's a 60-minute game and if you're out of it after two, it's not going to help us. It's not going to be every game where we're going to score in the first two periods. It's going to take 55, 60 minutes, and tonight wasn't any different than the last game. But we were in the game and that was the biggest difference.

Q: Are we looking at a different team compared to last year's team?

Sedin: I said from Day One, this is a different team. We stuck with it, and that's the biggest thing. I think personally, our line, if this would've been a couple years ago, we would've started cheating, we would've made plays we shouldn't have made. And the game would've been out of hand after 40 minutes. But you have to stick with it.

Q: What did Mikael Samuelsson bring to your line after he replaced Alex Burrows entering the second period?

Sedin: He's got a lot of speed, he likes to hold on to the puck, he's strong on the puck. I thought he gave us a lot more energy for sure. He's fun to play with.

Q: Was it nice to get some time on the penalty-killing unit with your brother?

Sedin: We talked about it, we wanted to do it, (Vigneault) gave us a chance. The second goal went in off a faceoff, but it's something we can build on for sure.

Q: Did you go to Vigneault and ask to kill penalties?

Sedin: It's tough to see a lot of pucks go in. I think we both played PK before and we wanted to do something. He gave us a chance and hopefully we can stay there.

Q: How big was it to get this win and tie the series?

Sedin: Well, it's bigger than a loss for sure. A win is always big in the playoffs. It doesn't matter when it happens. If you look at all the series, all the games, a goal here and there is going to change the momentum in every series. Now we have it, and we have to keep holding onto it.

Follow Dave Lozo on Twitter at: @DLozoNHL