In the final days of one of the longest seasons in Vancouver Canucks history, it’s like the players suddenly don’t want it to end.

For the second time in California in less than 24 hours, the Canucks were fully invested and engaged Sunday and beat a team with everything to play for in the playoff race, denying the Anaheim Ducks a chance to clinch their first Stanley Cup tournament berth in eight years by winning 4-3 in overtime.

The Canucks delivered a severe blow to the San Jose Sharks’ wild-card playoff hopes on Saturday by winning 4-3 in a shootout in Northern California.

The Ducks and Sharks, who will likely miss the playoffs for a seventh straight year, are the rebuilds frequently trumpeted as blueprints for the genre and teams the Canucks should try to emulate. But Vancouver, at the embryonic stage of its own rebuild, set back both opponents.

Marco Rossi’s power-play one-timer with 10 seconds left in overtime blasted the Canucks to victory in Anaheim after Beckett Sennecke, part of the Ducks’ new young core, turned the puck over in his own zone, which led to Chris Kreider’s slash on Drew O’Connor at 2:53 of the extra session.

After the Canucks rallied three times to win in San Jose, forcing overtime on Teddy Blueger’s goal late in regulation time, Vancouver blew a 3-1 lead in the third period against Anaheim.

Canuck Brock Boeser forced John Carlson into a turnover and brilliantly finished a shorthanded breakaway at 4:28 to put the National Hockey League’s worst team up by two goals. But Cutter Gauthier fired through Vancouver goalie Nikita Tolopilo on the same power play 37 seconds later. And at 6:56, Leo Carlsson tied it 3-3 by flipping a rebound through a sprawling Tolopilo after Canucks defenceman Filip Hronek’s rim-around took an unlucky bounce and caromed straight to Kreider in the slot.

But with Anaheim fans chanting “We want the playoffs! We want the playoffs!”, the Canucks survived the rest of the Ducks’ third-period surge before Vancouver’s sizzling power play won it in OT. Losing the bonus point left the Ducks tied with the Edmonton Oilers for second place in the Pacific Division (but third on the tie-breaker), one point behind the Vegas Golden Knights. Each team has two games remaining.

As impressive as the resilience the Canucks displayed after losing their lead with 13 minutes to go in regulation, their start was at least as encouraging as their finish.

Facing a rested, hungry Ducks team 19 hours after beating the Sharks about 600 kilometres away, the Canucks were physically and emotionally engaged from puck drop. 

Blueger went back at tough Anaheim defenceman Radko Gudas for his heavy hit on Vancouver rookie Liam Ohgren on the second shift, then challenged and fought him later in the period despite being overmatched. Even Gudas was impressed, helping Blueger up off the ice after the tilt.

Defenceman Elias Pettersson (Junior) didn’t shy away from Alex Killorn in a scrum. And as the game got rough, Canucks enforcer Curtis Douglas won a fight against Jeffrey Viel.

Importantly, even after Gauthier opened scoring for Anaheim just 3:41 into the game, five seconds after Blueger’s initial cross-checking penalty ended, the Canucks responded with goals by Douglas at 10:49 and Jake DeBrusk, on a power-play shot-pass from Rossi, at 14:37 to build a road lead Vancouver held until the third period.

With their first consecutive victories since December, the Canucks are playing like a team that doesn’t want the season to end. Or, at least, a team that doesn’t want it to end despairingly, without any positivity heading into a long summer.

“Yeah, they’re really fighting,” Foote told reporters in Anaheim before the game. “It’s a great group. They’re getting better and better, they’re working at it. You can almost feel the room, the energy, something shifted the last month or so and especially the last, you know, 10 days. I know they don’t want it to end.”

As exuberantly joyful as Douglas was at scoring his first NHL goal, it was difficult to tell after he swept in a loose puck at 10:49 who was the happiest Canuck on the ice. That’s how excited teammates were for the 26-year-old who spent five years in the minors before changing NHL teams twice this season on waivers.

Aatu Raty wouldn’t let go of the six-foot-nine winger during the group hug in the corner, and Pettersson looked like he wanted to wrestle him. It was a special moment for Douglas, a point-per-game player at the end of his junior career, who grew up in Oakville, Ont., not dreaming of fighting in the NHL but scoring goals.

Analyst Dave Tomlinson smartly pointed out on Sportsnet’s broadcast that all six Canucks on the ice for the goal — Douglas, Raty, Pettersson, Tolopilo, Ty Mueller and Kirill Kudryavtsev — were in the American Hockey League last season.

Playing his first NHL game this year, and the third of his career, defence callup Kudryavtsev earned his first NHL point by shooting from the point, the shot bouncing to Douglas off Raty. Kudryavtsev, 22, finished plus-one in 14:17 of ice time, with a 6-2 shots advantage at five-on-five and expected-goals-for of 77.8 per cent.

No team successfully rebuilds without veterans to help teach the kids, and the Canucks should seriously consider re-signing both Douglas and Blueger before they leave as unrestricted free agents this summer. Games like Sunday’s illustrate why leadership and toughness remain such important elements with so many young players in the lineup.

In 23 games since the Olympic break — and since Rossi returned to the Canucks fully healthy — Vancouver is 18-for-55 on the power play (without a shorthanded goal against) for a success rate of 32.7 per cent that ranks second in the NHL during that time.

The power play was 4-for-7 on the weekend and a huge factor in both wins. But we were surprised not to see Jake DeBrusk used on either unit in overtime after he scored his fifth power-play goal in seven games in the first period. DeBrusk is fourth in the NHL this season with 18 PPGs. 

When retiring Hockey Night in Canada reporter and After Hours host Scott Oake was invited into the Canucks’ dressing room before his final show Saturday in San Jose, the team gave him more than a jersey and an engraved silver puck. The Canucks are also making a $50,000 donation to the Anne Oake Family Recovery Centre in Winnipeg.

Scott and Anne lost their son to addiction in 2011, then founded the Bruce Oake Recovery Centre for men in an effort to change how drug addiction is treated in Canada. A retired nurse, Anne Oake succumbed to cancer in 2021. The new treatment centre in her name will allow women who have children to seek help without fear of being separated from their kids.

“It caught me completely by surprise, something I never expected,” Scott said Sunday night of the donation. “We appreciate every dollar we get, but we depend on significant donations like this, and it will help save lives. For the Canucks to do this, I’m really touched.”

He said construction on the Anne Oake Family Recovery Centre begins in May and the 75-bed facility should be completed by the end of 2027.

CANUCKS LINEUP IN ANAHEIM

Hoglander-Pettersson-DeBrusk
O’Connor-Rossi-Karlsson
Ohgren-Blueger-Boeser
Douglas-Mueller-Raty

Buium-Hronek
M. Pettersson-Willander
Kudryavtsev-Pettersson Jr.