The NHL Experts blog is a collaboration of voices from around and inside the game of hockey. With viewpoints ranging from the press box to the front office, the Experts blog will offer unique perspectives through the playoffs to keep readers informed of significant storylines in all aspects of the game.

When the Sedin twins are playing great, it's always because they're twins, because the chemistry between them is incomparable. It's always they, they, they, never just Daniel or just Henrik. They are a duo, a plural, a tandem, a pair, and that is why they succeed.

But when they're not playing so great, they're often criticized individually. Their close connection, often viewed as a strength, is seldom (if ever) seen as a weakness as well. Why not?

They say twins feel each other's pain. Maybe that's a little far-fetched, but surely, on a less cosmic level, when one twin struggles, or has to dance a little too often with a gigantic defenseman like Shea Weber, doesn't the other feel the pressure? If the passes aren't as crisp, if Daniel isn't where Henrik expects him to be or vice versa, isn't it only natural that their troubles would be exacerbated because they're twins, because they're so used to playing a certain way with each other?

"We have the same mindset when we're out there," says Henrik. "We think hockey the same way. We use each other to beat guys. We're not players that are going to beat guys one-on-one all over the ice like Alex Ovechkin or Sidney Crosby. We're a little different from other players in that way. They go out there and they don't have someone they've been playing with for a long time and they have to go out and beat guys one-on-one. We've never done that. We've always been able to use each other."