WESTERN CONFERENCE PREVIEW

*--* Vancouver Canucks (42-30-7-3, 8th) vs. Detroit Red Wings (51-17-10-4, 1st) Schedule: Tonight, Fri., Sun., Tues., April 25*, 27*, 29* (*-if necessary, best of seven) Season series: Detroit, 3-1 Series preview: At first sight, this seems like a mismatch. Detroit finished the regular season with a league-high 116 points, while Vancouver barely made the playoffs with 94. The Red Wings won the season series, but a lot has changed since the teams last met Jan. 10. Detroit ended the season winless over its last seven games. Vancouver finished on a nine-game unbeaten streak. Behind Todd Bertuzzi and Markus Naslund, the Canucks are big enough up front to give the Red Wings problems. The Red Wings may need goaltender Dominik Hasek to carry them into the second round Late-season acquisitions: Van--none; Det--defenseman Jiri Slegr Key injuries: Van--none; Det--left wing Brendan Shanahan (wrist) Goaltenders’ postseason records: Van--Dan Cloutier (0-2); Det--Dominik Hasek (37-32) Coaches’ postseason records: Van--Marc Crawford (31-25, one Cup); Det--Scotty Bowman (207-123, eight Cups) Fast facts: Only 10 players in NHL history have scored more than 600 goals in their career, and the Red Wings have three of them: Brett Hull, Luc Robitaille and Steve Yzerman. Hull is the NHL’s active leader in career playoff goals. The Canucks haven’t won a playoff game since April 22, 1996 MATCHUPS VAN DET Goals 254 (1) 251 (2) Goals against 190 (6) 187 (3) Power play 20.4 (2) 18.5 (4) Penalty killing 84.9 (15) 86.6 (4) Save percentage 899 (24) 913 (6) Goals-against avg 2.54 (17) 2.24 (3) Penalty minutes 1,342 (8) 1,053 (24) Power-play goals 69 (3) 73 (1) Shorthanded goals 3 (26) 9 (8) Players w/Cup titles 0 13 10+ goal scorers 9 8 Prediction: Detroit in six

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