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PLAYOFF SERIES: Western Conference quarterfinals; Game 1.
No team is subscribing to the ``hot goaltender'' theory more than the Calgary Flames.

Judging by Miikka Kiprusoff's performance this season, they have good reason to.

Calgary, making its first playoff appearance since 1996, will rely on the league's hottest goalie when it opens its Western Conference quarterfinal series against the Vancouver Canucks.

The Flames ended the NHL's longest playoff drought at eight years, finishing sixth in the West with 94 points -- their highest total since 1993-94.

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The two players most responsible for bringing the Flames back to the postseason are Kiprusoff and captain Jarome Iginla.

Kiprusoff began this season as San Jose's third-string goalie, but found new life when he was acquired by Calgary on Nov. 16. The Finnish goalie quickly became the Flames' starter and went on to set an NHL record with a 1.69 goals-against average, bettering Marty Turco's 1.72 mark set last season.

``It's how we play, it's not just my record,'' said Kiprusoff, who also led the league with a .933 save percentage. ``I didn't think about numbers. I was just thinking about going somewhere where I was going to get a chance to play.''

Even missing six weeks with a sprained knee wasn't enough to cool off Kiprusoff, who went 5-3 with a 1.63 GAA in February and 7-4-2 with a 1.98 mark in March.

Iginla is one of 14 Flames with two games or fewer of NHL playoff experience. Kiprusoff has appeared in only four postseason games, going 1-1 with a 1.91 GAA.

``They have a good team but if we play our own game we can do some damage in the playoffs, too,'' Kiprusoff said.

While Kiprusoff will be counted on to anchor the defense, Iginla also will need to be at the top of his game if Calgary is to win a playoff series for the first time since capturing the Stanley Cup in 1989.

Iginla scored his 41st goal of the season Sunday against Anaheim, tying him with Atlanta's Ilya Kovalchuk and Columbus' Rick Nash for the most in the league. Iginla has scored 128 goals the past three seasons, but hasn't been to the postseason since making his NHL debut with Calgary in the 1995-96 playoffs.

``Jarome is going to have to show he can play in this situation, and he will,'' Flames coach Darryl Sutter said.

The Northwest Division title didn't seem likely for the Canucks after star forward Todd Bertuzzi was suspended for the rest of the regular season and the playoffs for his hit on Colorado's Steve Moore on March 8.

After winning one of its first seven games (1-3-2-1) without Bertuzzi, Vancouver closed the regular season with six straight victories to pass the Avalanche for the division crown and the third seed in the West.

``It was a hard time,'' Canucks defenseman Marek Malik said. ``We just said to ourselves: 'We can't change what happened, so try to put it behind us and move on.' We showed ourselves that we could do that. We had to do that.''

Though the Canucks have proven they can win without arguably the game's best power forward, Bertuzzi's absence can be expected to have a negative impact in the playoffs. Matt Cooke has replaced Bertuzzi on the top line with Brendan Morrison and captain Markus Naslund, but isn't likely to provide the same offense.

Without Bertuzzi, trade deadline acquisitions Geoff Sanderson and Martin Rucinsky will have to contribute.

``Both Martin and Geoff have been great additions,'' Naslund said. ``These guys have brought a lot to our lineup.''

Kiprusoff is the key player for the Calgary, and the same can be said of counterpart Dan Cloutier.

Though Cloutier has joined New Jersey's Martin Brodeur as the only goalies to win 30 games each of the past three seasons, questions remain as to whether he is capable of leading a team to the Stanley Cup.

Cloutier has struggled in the postseason in his career, going 9-12 with a 3.43 GAA.

This is the first time in 10 years that the Canucks and Flames are meeting in the playoffs. Vancouver eliminated Calgary in seven games in 1994 and advanced to the Stanley Cup finals.

Game 2 is Friday at Vancouver.

HOW THEY GOT HERE: Flames - 94 points; 6th seed. Canucks - 101 points; 3rd seed.

TEAM LEADERS: Flames - Iginla, 41 goals and 73 points; Craig Conroy, 39 assists; Krzysztof Oliwa, 247 PIM. Canucks - Naslund, 35 goals, 49 assists and 84 points; Brad May, 137 PIM.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Flames - Power play: 15.1 percent (54 for 357), 21st in NHL. Penalty killing: 84.7 percent (293 for 346), 13th. Canucks - Power play: 14.9 percent (56 for 376), 22nd. Penalty killing: 86.1 percent (310 for 360), 3rd.

GOALTENDERS: Flames - Kiprusoff (24-10-4, 4 SO, 1.69 GAA); Roman Turek (6-11-0, 3, 2.33). Canucks - Cloutier (33-21-6, 5, 2.27); Johan Hedberg (8-6-2, 3, 2.51)

REGULAR SEASON SERIES: Canucks, 3-2-1. The Canucks outscored the Flames 9-2 while going 2-0-1 at Calgary. The Flames won two of three games in Vancouver. Iginla had three goals and one assist in the series and Morrison had four goals and six points for the Canucks.

Prediction: Calgary 3-2 in OT

Update: Vancouver 3 - Calgary 2 2nd period

Vancouver 5, Calgary 3

April 8, 2004

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -- The Vancouver Canucks were tired of hearing how bad their power play was, so they made it click at just the right time.

Brendan Morrison scored the last of four power-play goals and Vancouver beat the Calgary Flames 5-3 Wednesday night in their playoff opener.

The Canucks came in with the worst power play in the playoffs at 15.1 percent after converting just four of 53 chances in their final 16 games. But they scored on their first two opportunities and finished 4-for-6.

``You guys were complaining about it so much we figured we'd do something about it,'' said Morrison, who added two assists. ``We kept it simple. We played with a lot of confidence on the power play, which makes a big difference.''

Martin Rucinsky, Sami Salo and Henrik Sedin also scored on the power play and Mattias Ohlund added a goal during a delayed penalty.

``Our power play was not going all that well at the end, but now in the playoffs it's clicking,'' said Dan Cloutier, who made the best of his 26 saves while killing off eight of 10 power plays.

Vancouver has won seven straight, dating to the regular season, after winning just once in seven games after star forward Todd Bertuzzi was suspended throughout the playoffs for punching Colorado's Steve Moore.

That late push lifted the Canucks to the Northwest Division title and the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference.

It's a big difference from last season, when the Canucks lost the division on the final day of the regular season and were beaten 6-0 by St. Louis in the playoff opener.

``It's a good win for us,'' said captain Markus Naslund, who had three assists. ``We wanted to get the first win at home early and not have the kind of stuff we had last year when we lost the first one.''

The Canucks, who will host Game 2 of the best-of-seven series Friday night.

Chris Simon and Oleg Saprykin both had power-play goals, and Krzystof Oliwa also scored for the Flames, making their first playoff appearance in eight years.

``Some of our players played a very nervous perimeter game and they are top players. They can't play that game,'' Calgary coach Darryl Sutter said.

Miikka Kiprusoff, who set a modern-day NHL record with a 1.69 goals-against average this season, made 17 saves and allowed more than two goals for just the seventh time in 39 games.

``He's had a great season and that was a goal to try and get traffic in front. We did a good job,'' Morrison said.

Vancouver scored following consecutive penalties to Ville Nieminen early in the first period. Kiprusoff stopped Rucinsky on a breakaway 2:26 in, but Rucinsky tipped in Ed Jovanovski's point shot eight seconds later.

Salo doubled the lead less than three minutes later, one-timing a slap shot past Kiprusoff with Jovanovski and Rucinsky providing a screen in front.

The Flames, whose regular-season power play was one percentage point better than the Canucks' mark, tied it with a pair of man-advantage goals 28 seconds apart early in the middle period.

Already short-handed, the Canucks were whistled for too many men on the ice. Simon converted the two-man advantage six seconds later after the puck took a funny hop off the glass behind Cloutier.

Cloutier looked to his right, but the puck was on the left side and Simon tapped it in.

Saprykin tied it at 5:06, but Sedin put the Canucks ahead for good at 12:47 with a goal that bounced in off the skate of Calgary defenseman Jordan Leopold.

Ohlund scored with 2:09 left in the second, and Morrison made it 5-2 at 5:26 of the third.

``Things can change quickly in these types of games and we've learned that over the past couple of years,'' Morrison said.

Oliwa scored on a deflection 50 seconds later, but the Flames failed to record a shot during a lengthy five-on-three power play with six minutes left.

Calgary was 2-for-10 with the extra attacker.

``We all feel in our dressing room that we're a lot better team than that and we're going to play a lot better than that,'' Flames captain Jarome Iginlasaid. ``It's playoff time.''

Notes

Calgary D Toni Lydman played after missing the final 10 games of the regular season due to a concussion. ... Iginla was making his first playoff appearance since playing two games as a rookie when Calgary last qualified in 1996. ... The last time these teams met in the playoffs was 1994, when the Canucks overcame a 3-1 series deficit in the first round en route to the finals. ... Calgary won the previous meeting in 1989 in seven games and went onto win the Stanley Cup.