Canucks to Bank on Experience

The Vancouver Canucks know as well as any team that there’s a huge difference between the NHL regular season and the Stanley Cup playoffs.

That’s because they had good teachers in the Detroit Red Wings, who erased a 2-0 deficit to the Canucks with four consecutive victories in a best-of-seven first-round series last year.

“We’re tired of learning lessons, to start it off with,” said forward Todd Bertuzzi, who has helped lead the Canucks to first place in the Northwest Division with two regular-season games left. “I think we were taught a lesson by the older veterans of Detroit, how to continue the game, how to play for 60 minutes.

“As a young team, it’s unfortunate that we have to learn those kind of lessons, [but] in the long run it’s going to benefit us.”

Behind the dominant scoring duo of Markus Naslund, who leads the NHL in goals (47) and points (103), and Bertuzzi (46 goals and 95 points), the Canucks have the league’s most potent offense. Vancouver, which averages 3.26 goals, has scored at least four goals 32 times and five or more goals 16 times.

“We’ve learned how to come back from behind [and] we’ve been doing that quite a bit this year,” Bertuzzi said. “It’s that never-say-die attitude that’s kept us on top.”

Naslund and Bertuzzi, who have a chance to become the first teammates to lead the league in goals since Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr did it for Pittsburgh in 1995-96, are front-runners for the Hart Trophy as the league’s most valuable player, but they get the job done in their own individual style.

While Naslund is a smooth skater who always seems to find his way to the puck, Bertuzzi is a physical force who intimidates opponents with his play in front of the net.

“It’s great to have two pretty good options on either side of you,” Brendan Morrison, who centers the line with Naslund and Bertuzzi, told Duck announcer Brian Hayward. “Markus is the guy who gets into the open ice and always finds seams. He’s more of a pure goal scorer. Todd is the guy that has the combination of the power game and the finesse game and he’s tough to battle in front of the net, where he bangs a lot of pucks in from.”

Last season, the Canucks had to go 13-2-1 in their last 16 regular-season games to qualify as the eighth-seeded team in the Western Conference playoffs. This season, Vancouver has been more consistent.

Thanks to a 12-1 November, the Canucks were 24-11-5 over the first 40 games. Thanks to a 14-game unbeaten streak that began days before the All-Star break, the Canucks are 21-11-7-1 in their last 40 games.

Although the Canucks suffered a 3-1 loss to the Mighty Ducks on Sunday, they still have a chance to finish with the best record in the conference. They also are determined not to allow the late-charging Colorado Avalanche to catch them in the Northwest Division.

“It’s been good for us,” veteran Trevor Linden said after Vancouver’s 5-1 victory over the Kings on Saturday. “We have been in the playoffs for two or three weeks, maybe a month, but I think being in a race down the stretch has been good for us. It has forced us to keep our habits real good. Guys are really digging in and when things aren’t going right we know we have to turn it around.

“We’ve put heat on ourselves to play well down the stretch. We want to stay ahead of Colorado and that’s kept us focused on playing well. We’ve been through some pressure games, big games, and we’ve responded well.”

But for the Canucks to move deep into the playoffs, they will need goaltender Dan Cloutier, who recently returned to the lineup after sitting out 10 games because of a knee injury, to play well. His teammates are counting on him.

“A lot of reason for our success is because of Dan’s play,” Bertuzzi said. “He’s grown to become one of the tough goaltenders in the league.”

Overlooked Effort

Winger Ziggy Palffy probably will not finish among the leaders for the Hart Trophy, but he’s having an MVP-type season for the injury-plagued Kings.

With 35 goals and 81 points after Monday’s 5-4 overtime victory at Phoenix, Palffy has 21 more goals and 44 more points than the second-best King in both categories. But the most eye-opening statistic about Palffy’s play this season is his plus-18 plus/minus rating, considering that he’s among the league leaders in ice time playing on a team that has been outscored by 21 goals.

Sabre Scare

The Buffalo Sabres, who have had to endure more than their share of off-ice problems this season, received good news over the weekend when defensemen Rhett Warrener and Brian Campbell did not show any symptoms of SARS (a mysterious respiratory illness that has killed more than 60 people around the world) after not traveling with their teammates for a recent trip.

The players had limited exposure to SARS after a female relative of Campbell’s who was exposed to the virus had visited the room he shared with Warrener.

Put Up or Shut Up

If St. Louis and Detroit meet in the playoffs, expect a vicious series based on the final regular-season game played between the teams. The Red Wings’ 6-2 victory over the Blues last Saturday was marred by two late brawls that helped the teams combine for 219 penalty minutes in the third period of a nationally televised game.

The NHL suspended Red Wing assistant coach Joey Kocur on Monday for two games for throwing a chair on the ice. Blues Coach Joel Quenneville was fined $5,000 for putting all of his tougher players on the ice with one minute left in the game, and the team was fined $25,000 by the league.

“I think they challenged us and we won every battle,” said Detroit Coach Dave Lewis, who had a shouting match with Quenneville in the game’s final minute. “Any battle we were thrown into, we seemed to win. I’m very happy with the results.”