Canucks 3 Blues 2 (OT)
ST. LOUIS — As overtime wound down Tuesday night, the Vancouver Canucks finally rewarded their star goalie’s heroic efforts.
Alex Burrows scored his second goal of the game 19:41 into overtime and Roberto Luongo finished with 47 saves to help the Canucks complete a first-round sweep of the St. Louis Blues with a 3-2 victory Tuesday night.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” Luongo said. “It was a gritty one.”
Kyle Wellwood also scored for the Canucks, who swept a four-game series for the first time in franchise history. Vancouver won a series before the seventh game for the first time in 12 tries since 1994.
“We have a few guys banged up,” Luongo said. “It’s good that we’re going to get the rest now and heal up and make sure we’re ready to go when the next round starts.”
The Canucks goalie was so drained after the overtime period that he required IV fluids.
Brad Boyes and David Perron scored for the Blues, who rallied from a two-goal, second-period deficit thanks to causing traffic in front of Luongo. But more power-play woes doomed St. Louis, which was 0-for-7 with the man advantage and 1-for-23 in the series including a four-minute double-minor midway through overtime.
“The one thing that killed us in the series is our power play,” Blues forward Keith Tkachuk said. “We had opportunities throughout the series and we didn’t capitalize.
“You’ve got to bring it up a notch and we didn’t do that.”
The Blues’ first playoff appearance in five years was a short one. They had the best second half in the NHL to qualify with one game to go, doing it without injured stars Paul Kariya, Erik Johnson and Eric Brewer.
Then they were swept for the first time since Dallas did it to them in 1994.
Chairman David Checketts said it would have been “so easy” for the Blues, down 2-0 in the second period, to fold.
“They showed what they were all about and what they’ve been about all season,” Checketts said. “I’m really, really proud of them.”
The Canucks were outshot 10-1 the first half of overtime. Burrows, whose goal put Vancouver ahead 2-0 in the second period, broke in alone on the right side and squeezed a wrist shot past Chris Mason.
“Going to the net, I just wanted to shoot it for a rebound in the high slot,” Burrows said. “I found the five-hole, so we’ll take it this time of year.”
Mason figured Burrows would shoot because time was running out.
“I just lost it for a second, and I didn’t close it up quick enough,” Mason said. “It just slipped through.”