SAN JOSE, Calif. — Patrick Marleau scored a power-play goal 13:18 into overtime and the San Jose Sharks completed their first playoff sweep in franchise history, beating the Vancouver Canucks 4-3 Tuesday night.
Joe Pavelski scored his second power-play goal of the game to tie it with 4:27 left in regulation. Brent Burns also scored for the Sharks, who will now get a break before beginning the second round of the playoffs next week.
Mason Raymond, Alex Burrows and Alexander Edler scored for the Canucks, who were unable to hold onto a late third-period lead for the second time this series.
Cory Schneider made big stops early in the overtime, but gave up the rebound that led to Marleau’s series-clinching goal.
With Daniel Sedin sent off for boarding Tommy Wingels, the Sharks came through with their third power-play goal of the night to win it. Joe Thornton’s shot hit off Schneider and the puck was bouncing in the crease when Marleau just got his stick on it to score the winner, setting off a wild celebration at the Shark Tank and sending Vancouver to another early playoff exit.
The Canucks have lost 10 of their past 11 playoff games to raise major questions about the future of a franchise that made it to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals just two years ago.
Vancouver lost the final two games of that series to Boston to miss out on the first title in franchise history. It fell in five games as the top seed in the Western Conference to eventual champion Los Angeles in the first round last year and was blitzed by the sixth-seeded Sharks this year.
The Canucks have scored just 18 goals in their past 11 post-season games and that futility could end up costing coach Alain Vigneault his job among other possible off-season changes.
Stars Daniel and Henrik Sedin did not score a goal all series and the Canucks were unable to stay out of the penalty box or hold late leads.