Canucks sweep Blues

ST. LOUIS -- Alex Burrows scored his second goal of the game with 18.9 seconds to go in overtime and Roberto Luongo made 47 saves to help the Vancouver Canucks complete a first-round sweep of St. Louis with a 3-2 victory over the Blues on Tuesday night.

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.

Brad Boyes and David Perron scored for the Blues, who rallied from a two-goal, second-period deficit thanks to increased traffic around Luongo. But more power play woes doomed St. Louis, which was 0-for-7 with the man advantage and 1 of 23 in the series, including a four-minute double-minor midway through overtime.

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.

Ryan Kesler's four-minute penalty for high sticking when he drew blood near Blues defenseman Mike Weaver's eye midway through the period gave the Blues, making their first playoff appearance in five years, a chance to extend the series. But St. Louis managed only four shots.

Vancouver's power play also could have ended it before Burrows' shot silenced a standing room crowd of 19,250 and put the third seed in the Western Conference into the second round. The Canucks won two of their last three overtime games in the regular season, both on goals by Henrik Sedin.

The Blues dramatically increased traffic in front of the net throughout Game 4, and that pressure plus a sudden increase in urgency helped them rally from a two-goal deficit to tie it in the second period.

Boyes tapped in his own rebound at 13:30 and Perron's tip-in tied it about 2 1/2 minutes later. St. Louis nearly got the go-ahead goal with 1:54 to go in the period after several players hacked away at the puck while Luongo was on all fours and Jay McClement finally tapped it over the line, but the goal was denied after a lengthy review because the referee had intended to whistle the play dead.

Two giveaways by Barret Jackman in the defensive zone helped the Canucks take a 2-0 lead on Burrows' waist-high deflection at 9:23 of the second. Wellwood also took advantage of a mistake by the Blues' defense for the game's first score, stealing Colaiacovo's outlet pass and skating in alone on Mason to score unassisted at 5:20 of the first.