Max Bultman

Special to the Detroit Free Press

GRAND RAPIDS — There’s just something about the playoffs for Tyler Bertuzzi.

After scoring a hat trick in the Grand Rapids Griffins’ 6-1 win over Lake Erie on Saturday, Bertuzzi has tallied 14 goals in just 23 AHL playoff games the past two seasons.

Those are impressive numbers for anybody, but they’re even more eye-popping considering that the Detroit Red Wings prospect has totaled 13 goals in 73 AHL regular-season games.

So what is it that makes Bertuzzi, the nephew of former Wing Todd Bertuzzi, so effective in the playoffs?

“I just come to play hard,” Bertuzzi said. “It’s a different type of game in the playoffs. It’s grinding, it’s gritty, it’s tough to play in. I like that type of game. And I think that type of game suits me."

It’s hard to argue. Bertuzzi netted seven goals in nine games this postseason, duplicating his total from last season in five fewer games.

The 58th overall selection in the 2013 NHL draft, Bertuzzi’s net-crashing brand of hockey is conducive to bang-bang goals. He can shoot just fine on his own, but he also has shown a knack for picking up loose pucks and burying them. And when playing with talented forwards Andreas Athanasiou and Anthony Mantha, as he did toward the end of the playoffs, Bertuzzi has capitalized.

Consider his second goal Saturday. After Athanasiou was stoned on a deke attempt, Bertuzzi crashed the net, behind two Lake Erie defenders and banged home the rebound. It was the picture of opportunism. And in the playoffs, opportunism is key.

Last season, in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals against Rockford, he scored a winner just 13 seconds into overtime, again on a rebound.

Goals like that are emblematic of Bertuzzi’s playoff prowess. It’s the time of year when a grinder can be a star — a time when his style of play translates to the scoreboard, even if it also calls for a more brutal brand of hockey.

“It wears on the body,” he said, “but that’s what you do to win cups.”

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