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........

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