WASHINGTON CAPITALS left wing Alex Ovechkin (8) sends Toronto Maple Leafs center Tyler Bozak (42) to the boards during second period NHL hockey round one playoff action in Toronto on Wednesday. The Capitals evened the series with a 5-4 victory.
Patrick Eaves, Nate Thompson and Ryan Getzlaf scored, and the Anaheim Ducks beat the Calgary Flames 3-1 on Wednesday night for a sweep of their first-round playoff series.
Anaheim became the first team to advance to the conference semifinals. It was the Ducks’ first four-game sweep since they eliminated Winnipeg in the first round in 2015 and just the fifth in franchise history.
John Gibson made 36 stops for Anaheim, which will face the Edmonton Oilers or San Jose Sharks in the second round.
Sean Monahan scored a power-play goal in the second for Calgary, which qualified for the postseason as the first wild card in the Western Conference.
Wild 2, Blues 0
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Devan Dubnyk made 28 saves, Charlie Coyle scored in the first period and the Wild avoided a playoff sweep.
Dubnyk’s second playoff shutout came almost two years to the day of his first, also against the Blues on April 20, 2015. Martin Hanzal also scored for Minnesota in the second.
Blues goalie Jake Allen made 26 saves. He entered having stopping 114 of the Wild’s first 117 shots in the series.
Capitals 5, Maple Leafs 4
TORONTO (AP) — Tom Wilson and T.J. Oshie each scored two goals, and the Capitals beat the Maple Leafs to leave their firstround playoff series tied at two games apiece.
Alex Ovechkin added his third goal of the playoffs as the top-seeded Capitals regained momentum ahead of Game 5 in Washington on Friday night. Braden Holtby made 30 saves.
Zach Hyman, James van Riemsdyk, Auston Matthews and Tyler Bozak scored for Toronto.
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