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CALGARY, Alberta - 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.

It was a short night for Flames goaltender Brian Elliott, who was pulled for Chad Johnson after giving up a soft goal at 5:38 of the first period. Johnson allowed a goal on the second shot he faced, but finished with 20 saves.

Monahan's redirection of a Kris Versteeg feed made it 2-1 at 16:07. Johnson was pulled for an extra attacker with almost two and a half minutes remaining, and Getzlaf converted an empty-netter in the final seconds.

A sharp-angled shot by Eaves slid under Elliott's pads on Anaheim's third shot of the game. The Ducks quickly scored on Johnson at 6:46, with Thompson banging in a rebound.

The Ducks opened the series with a pair of 3-2 wins at home before storming back from a three-goal deficit to win 5-4 in overtime at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Game 3.

The Ducks haven't lost in regulation in 18 games dating to March 10.

Led by Getzlaf and Corey Perry, holdovers from Anaheim's 2007 Stanley Cup win, the Ducks were a poised team that prevailed in the big moments of the series.

The Flames outplayed them the majority of Game 2, but a lucky deflection and a couple of undisciplined minors by Calgary late in the game allowed the Ducks to pull out the win at home.

Trailing 4-1 late in the second period in Game 3, Carlyle juggled his forward lines to generate an offensive spark.

The Ducks put the puck on net through traffic to score four unanswered goals on the way to their biggest comeback in franchise history.

The two quick goals Wednesday drained the Flames of confidence that was already dented from their Game 3 collapse.

As good as Elliott was in getting Calgary to the playoffs with a strong second half in the regular season, he gave up soft goals in the second, third and fourth games of the series.

NOTES: Ducks D Sami Vatanen (upper body) participated in the morning skate and defender Cam Fowler (knee) skated by himself for the third time in as many days. Carlyle said Fowler would be out two to six weeks when the defenseman collided with Flames captain Mark Giordano in a regular-season game April 4. ... Ducks forward Ryan Kesler was nominated Wednesday for the Selke Trophy for a sixth time. He won the trophy that goes to the top defensive forward in 2011 when he was a Vancouver Canuck.

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Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock wasn't pleased with his team's effort in Game 4.

"We didn't compete hard enough," Babcock told reporters following the 5-4 loss to the Washington Capitals. "I thought they won all the battles and all the races."

Throughout the season, Babcock usually remained pretty coy following losses in order to protect his young team. However, it's possible the club may have had too much confidence heading into Game 4 with a 2-1 series lead.

"I thought today was the first time that maybe we weren't scared enough of them and it looked like it because our competition level wasn't good enough," said Babcock.

The Leafs certainly didn't come out with the same jump they had in Games 1 and 2 - and for most of the regular season. They had been one of the best first-period teams in the entire league, but in uncharacteristic fashion, they got off to a sluggish start in back-to-back games.

"You can come back once in a while from behind like we did the other night," said Babcock. "But I don't think you can spot the other team two goals all the time, especially now that they're energized and winning all the battles."

Though the poor start is ultimately what lost them the game, the Leafs deserve credit for relentlessly clawing back. They trailed 4-1 after the first frame, but only ended up losing 5-4. But as they say, being close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

Given Babcock's emphasis on effort and compete level in his postgame press conference, you can expect the Leafs to answer the bell and come out firing on all cylinders to start Game 5.

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Andrew Wiggins of the Minnesota Timberwolves was at the Air Canada Centre on Wednesday night to cheer on his hometown Toronto Maple Leafs as they battled the Washington Capitals in Game 4 of their opening-round series.

Attending his first-ever hockey game, Wiggins rocked a personalized Leafs jersey with his name and No. 22 displayed on the back.

His presence wasn't the good luck charm the Leafs needed, though, as they fell 5-4 to Washington to tie things up at two games apiece.

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Craig Anderson is putting Erik Karlsson up on the level of the greatest player in Ottawa Senators history.

Following a win that gave the club a 3-1 series lead over the Boston Bruins, the goaltender equated Karlsson's lead-by-example style to that of Daniel Alfredsson - Ottawa's longtime captain and all-time leading scorer - saying everyone is buying in.

Related: 3 Erik Karlsson plays that turned the tide in Senators' favor

"He’s starting to remind me a lot (of Alfredsson), where guys are starting to kill themselves for him," Anderson said after Game 4, per Joe McDonald of ESPN.

Alfredsson, of course, led the Senators to the 2007 Stanley Cup Final, but this year's Senators have a long way to go yet.

But Karlsson is indeed proving himself to be a leader both on and off the ice, with an all-world game to back it up.

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It's comparable to the easiest pages in the "Where's Waldo?" books.

Deep in the heart of Toronto, a multitude of Maple Leafs fans gathered to watch Game 4. Somehow, a trio of Washington Capitals fans made their way to the front of the pack, and was caught cheering on a win in a sea of sad faces.

Because it's the Cup.

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T.J. Oshie picked the perfect time to get on the scoresheet.

The Washington Capitals winger fired home his first goal of the playoffs in the opening period of Game 4 against the Toronto Maple Leafs, finding the back of the net at the 2:58 mark.

It was a crucial goal for the Capitals, who were down 2-1 in their series against the wild-card Maple Leafs and looked to build an early lead Wednesday. The three previous contests were decided in overtime, with the Capitals taking Game 1 and the Maple Leafs coming out on top in the two most recent affairs.

But Oshie's most important goal would come at the 12:59 mark of the third period, after keeping the puck in the zone and beating Maple Leafs netminder Frederik Andersen with a five-hole goal.

Initially an insurance marker, the goal ended up as the game-winner, after Toronto center Tyler Bozak brought the score to 5-4 with 27 seconds left on the clock.

While Oshie registered four points - all assists - through the first three games of the series, the two tallies were his first goals since wrapping the regular season with a career-high 33.

It's that type of performance that will make the 30-year-old one of the top free agents available this summer.

Oshie and the Capitals will have a chance to push their series lead to 3-2 in Washington on Friday.

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TORONTO - Tom Wilson and T.J. Oshie each scored two goals, and the Washington Capitals beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-4 on Wednesday night to tie their first-round playoff series at two games apiece.

Alex Ovechkin added his third goal of the playoffs as the top-seeded Capitals regained momentum with the series shifting back to Washington for Game 5 on Friday night. Braden Holtby made 30 saves.

Zach Hyman, James van Riemsdyk, Auston Matthews, and Tyler Bozak scored for Toronto, which was coming off a 4-3 overtime win on Monday night. Frederik Andersen stopped 22 shots.

The Maple Leafs rallied after the Capitals scored four times in the first for a 4-1 lead. Bozak, who had the winning goal in Game 3, got Toronto within one with 26 seconds left, but Washington held on from there.

The tight finish came after a dominant start for the Capitals.

Oshie got Washington on the board when he capitalized on a Nate Schmidt point shot sent purposefully wide of the net. Ovechkin then was left wide open for a one-time drive on a power play, making it 2-0 at 4:34 of the first.

It was similar to Game 3 when Toronto also went down 2-0 in the first five minutes, but the club was unable to recover this time around. The Capitals added two more goals in the first in a span of less than three minutes - both by Wilson, a Toronto native.

Moved up in the lineup for Game 4 as coach Barry Trotz looked for a spark, Wilson first pulled back a Morgan Rielly shot from the goal line after it snuck through the pads of Holtby. He then raced the other way and deflected Lars Eller's harmless shot from the sideboards past Andersen.

On his next shift, Wilson barreled over Rielly near the Washington blue line and then finished off a 2-on-1 sequence with Andre Burakovsky for a 4-1 lead at 16:04.

Van Riemsdyk scored early in the second on a power play, but Toronto wasted nearly two full minutes of a 5-on-3 advantage.

Washington appeared to go up 5-2 with just under 12 minutes to go, but the goal by Schmidt was waved off on goalie interference. The Caps challenged the play, which saw Nicklas Backstrom get tangled up with Andersen, but the initial call was confirmed.

Matthews scored his second at 12 minutes, but Oshie restored Washington's two-goal lead 59 seconds later.

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In the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs, it's Erik Karlsson who fits to a tee whatever definition you ascribe to the term "gamebreaker."

Over the past three games, the Ottawa Senators defenseman has reminded the hockey world that he's quite simply one of the best at any position, setting up key goals in ways that few others can.

Here's a look at three plays that have most definitely helped turn the tide in Ottawa's favor in a series the Senators now lead 3-1 over the Boston Bruins.

Draw them in, dish it off

Down a goal in the third period of Game 2, Karlsson was somehow able to keep the puck in the offensive zone, skate around the opposition while attracting all the attention, and send a perfect pass across the ice to Derick Brassard, who made no mistake on a wide open net.

Tie game, and the Senators went on to win in overtime.

Breakout pass for the ages

Mike Hoffman opened the scoring in Game 4 with a spectacular move on Tuukka Rask, but the breakaway opportunity was sprung by a seemingly impossible lob pass from Ottawa's goal line to Boston's blue line.

That could end being one of the nicest plays of the postseason when it's all said and done.

Slap pass for the win

The Senators ultimately needed a lone goal to prevail in Game 4, and it was set up by a filthy slap pass to Bobby Ryan.

Karlsson has five assists in four games, and is proving, without question, to be Ottawa's most valuable player.

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