The race for the top seed in the Western Conference and the President’s Trophy is just about finished, thanks to a strong finishing kick by the Vancouver Canucks.

With nine games left in their regular season, the Canucks can just about set their sights totally on the Stanley Cup playoffs, comfortable in the knowledge they likely will have home-ice advantage all the way through until mid-June.

Vancouver sits ahead of the pack with 103 points, eight points in front of second-place Detroit. Thanks to winning eight times in their past 10 games, the Canucks are the first NHL team to crack the 100-point barrier.

March has been very kind to the Canucks. Vancouver opened the month with a 2-1 shutout victory over Columbus. Following a loss two nights later at home to Nashville, the Canucks won seven in a row, the winning streak ending Friday night with a 3-1 loss to Phoenix.

The Canucks can just about bury Detroit’s dreams of winning the West regular-season title with a victory in Detroit on Wednesday night. It’s the first game of a four-game road trip that also takes Vancouver through Atlanta, Columbus and Nashville.

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Its season-best eight-game winning streak finished, the Vancouver Canucks look to get back on track and kick off an East Coast road trip on a good note on Tuesday.

The Canucks lost in a shootout to Detroit on Saturday night, ending an eight-game winning streak that brought Vancouver to the top of the Western Conference and the overall points lead in the NHL with 60 points, one point ahead of the Red Wings.

Vancouver’s last two losses have come to Detroit. The Red Wings beat Vancouver in overtime on Dec. 22; the Canucks beat Columbus the next day to start the winning streak. The last Vancouver loss before the two to Detroit came Dec. 11 against Tampa Bay in overtime.

Vancouver, which is 27-8-6 overall, takes on the Islanders tonight. Thursday, the Canucks take on the Rangers in New York, followed by games at Washington on Friday, at Minnesota on Sunday and at Colorado on Jan. 18.

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The Vancouver Canucks put together quite a stellar regular season in 2009-10, marked with a Northwest Division championship and a franchise record for most home victories in a single season.

But Vancouver’s season ended with a loss to eventual Stanley Cup champion Chicago in the Western Conference semifinals. Now, the Canucks hope to take the next step in 2010-11.

The Canucks will look to continue their high-scoring ways, having finished second in the Western Conference in scoring last season (3.27 goals per game). Center Henrik Sedin led the way with 112 points (29 goals, 83 assists) last season and is back to bolster the Vancouver offense. His twin brother, Daniel Sedin, finished second on the team with 85 points (29 goals, 56 assists).

Goaltender Roberto Luongo won 40 games in net and also is back, although he has relinquished his captain duties.

Vancouver opens the season with a two-game homestand, starting Oct. 9 against Los Angeles and concluding Oct. 11 against Florida. The Oct. 9 game marks the 40th anniversary of the Canucks’ first game, on Oct. 9, 1970, against the Kings.

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In Friday’s rout, Mikael Samuelsson, recently promoted to the first line, scored two goals and added an assist to lead the way. It was a balanced effort for Vancouver, which scored at least two goals in each period and had five players find the net. Steve Bernier was the only other Canuck to register more than one goal. He finished with two.

Interestingly enough, none of Vancouver’s seven tallies came from Henrik Sedin, who led the NHL in goals this season. He did record two assists, though.

The Canucks now head back to Los Angeles for Game 6 on Sunday night, where they have struggled thus far. It took a 4-goal effort in the third period of Game 4 just to regain home-ice advantage.

Roberto Luongo had 24 saves in the victory.