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“It’s just one of those things; you’ve got to play without it,” Burns said after the game. “It happens a lot.”

Many players would have been moping around or been mired in self pity the following day.

Not Brent Burns.

For him, the sun came up over the Steel City on Tuesday. After all, it was just one game. Redemption can come in Game 2 at the Consol Energy Center on Wednesday night. And, in the meantime, he will embrace each and every morsel of the experience that is the Stanley Cup Final.

Beneath his trademark gap-toothed grin and whispy beard, Burns is a special player. If those in the east who don’t stay up to watch Sharks games didn’t know that by now, they’re certainly getting an education into Burnsie 101 in a big hurry.

By notching two assists in the second period on Monday, Burns now has 22 points in this post-season, the most by a defenceman since Brian Leetch had 34 with the Rangers in 1994.

For Burns, the knowledge that he no longer will be yo-yoed between defence and forward has allowed him to concentrate on one position. He admittedly doesn’t mind being a swing man, but the consistency of being locked in on the blue-line certainly is paying dividends for the Sharks, who are making their first Stanley Cup Final appearance in franchise history.

“I never really thought too much about it,” Burns said Tuesday when asked if his bouncing between positions in the past had created some stress. “I just really enjoyed playing both. If they told me to play forward, we always joke around — you just turn your brain off and turn your legs on. Have fun, no stress, then go back to ‘D,’ turn the brain on and you’ve got to start thinking again.