Bieksa’s overtime goal sends Canucks to Stanley Cup Finals

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Kevin Bieksa was screaming at the top of his lungs and confetti already falling was from the ceiling by the time anyone else realized the defenseman had scored to send the Vancouver Canucks to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Roberto Luongo made 54 saves before Bieksa scored a strange and fortuitous goal 10:18 into the second overtime that put the Canucks into the Finals for the first time in 17 years.

Bieksa's goal gave Vancouver a 3-2 win and eliminated the San Jose Sharks in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals on Tuesday night.

"Probably the ugliest goal of my career but the biggest," Bieksa said. "It was just a knuckleball that I barely got enough wood on it to get it on net. It was a hard puck to shoot. Just put it on net was my first thought, but when it when in I just yelled out, 'Let's go to the Cup, baby.' "

They will face either the Boston Bruins or the Tampa Bay Lightning when they get there and will host Games 1 and 2. The Bruins lead the Eastern Conference finals 3-2 and can advance with a Game 6 win at Tampa Bay tonight. If necessary, Game 7 would be Friday in Boston.

Ryan Kesler got the Canucks into overtime on Tuesday when he tied the game with 13.2 seconds left in regulation, while Luongo was on the bench for an extra skater.

Bieksa ended it after Alex Edler's dump in caromed awkwardly off the glass on the sideboards and out to the defenseman just inside the blue line. Bieksa's quick shot beat Antti Niemi inside the right post before the goalie -- or mostly everyone else on the ice -- could find the puck.

Vancouver will make its first trip to the Finals since 1994, when the Canucks lost in seven games to the New York Rangers, and just the third in the team's 40-year history. This one came 17 years to the day after the Canucks last reached the Finals, also on a goal in double overtime.

It was a tough way for San Jose to end a game it dominated for long stretches, outshooting the Canucks 56-34.

The outcome ruined what Sharks coach Todd McLellan called a "courageous" game from captain Joe Thornton, who revealed he was playing despite a separated shoulder sustained late in the Sharks' loss in Game 4. Thornton had several great early chances but couldn't beat Luongo.

"It was sore, but no excuses," Thornton said. "Tough series. We lost, and they go on. To get here is an accomplishment, but next year we've got to beat it."

They almost did, and maybe they should have. Vancouver was down 2-1 after Luongo's gamble left Devin Setoguchi with an empty net 24 seconds into the third period. But Kesler, who left briefly in the second period with an apparent injury to his left leg, deflected Henrik Sedin's shot through Niemi after a questionable icing call against San Jose. Replays appeared to show that the puck hit Vancouver's Daniel Sedin, but icing was called anyway to set up an offensive zone faceoff for the Canucks.