All posts by The Associated Press

Dubnyk, Wild beat Blues 2-0 to avoid elimination

ST. LOUIS (AP) Devan Dubnyk made 28 saves, Charlie Coyle scored in the first period and the Minnesota Wild avoided elimination with a 2-0 win over the St. Louis Blues in Game 4 of the first-round playoff series on Wednesday night.

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.

St. Louis still leads the best-of-seven series 3-1 heading into Game 5 at Minnesota on Saturday.

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Ducks sweep away Flames with Game 4 win

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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Oshie, Wilson come up big as Capitals even series with Maple Leafs

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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Senators win, push Bruins to brink of elimination

BOSTON - Bobby Ryan scored early in the third period, Craig Anderson stopped 22 shots and the Ottawa Senators beat the Boston Bruins 1-0 on Wednesday night for a 3-1 lead in their first-round playoff series.

It was Anderson's fourth career playoff shutout.

Tuukka Rask made 26 saves for Boston, which had a goal disallowed in the first when Ottawa coach Guy Boucher challenged and the replay showed Noel Acciari was offside.

The Bruins, who were winless in four games against the Senators in the regular season, will try to force the series back to Boston with a victory in Ottawa in Game 5 on Friday night.

After back-to-back overtime games, this one remained scoreless until 5:49 into the third, when Erik Karlsson's slap shot deflected off Rask to his stick side. Ryan pulled it from his backhand to his forehand and swiped at it as Zdeno Chara dove behind Rask into the crease to try to knock the puck away from the goal line.

The 6-foot-9 defenseman was able to reach out and prevent the first attempt from going in, but Ryan pushed it over the line with his second.

The Bruins pulled Rask with almost two minutes left and managed a couple of scoring chances - both from Brad Marchand - but Anderson turned them away.

NOTES: Bruins D Colin Miller returned after missing Games 2 and 3 with an unspecified injury. ... Ottawa D Mark Borowiecki missed his second straight game. ''Boro is getting closer every day,'' Boucher said. ... Ottawa F Tom Pyatt left after a hit from Kevan Miller early in the first. ... Bruins C Patrice Bergeron, a three-time Selke Trophy winner, was named a finalist for the award for the sixth time Wednesday.

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Sharks dismantle Oilers to square series

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Joe Pavelski and Logan Couture each scored two goals and the San Jose Sharks rebounded from back-to-back shutouts in emphatic fashion, beating the Edmonton Oilers 7-0 on Tuesday night to tie their first-round playoff series at two games apiece.

After being throttled by the younger and faster Oilers the past two games, the Sharks went back to the same successful formula that carried them to the Stanley Cup Final a year ago.

Pavelski scored on a pair of deflections, including one just 15 seconds into the game for the fastest playoff goal in team history, the previously dormant power play scored four times and San Jose held Connor McDavid off the score sheet for the second straight game. Now they will try to carry that over into Game 5 in Edmonton on Thursday night.

Patrick Marleau, Marcus Sorensen and David Schlemko also scored for San Jose, Brent Burns had three assists and Martin Jones made 23 saves for his fourth playoff shutout. It all added up to the most lopsided playoff win in Sharks history and biggest shutout win in the NHL in 10 years.

Cam Talbot was pulled after allowing five goals on 24 shots and the frustration boiled over for the Oilers with Leon Draisaitl drawing a game misconduct for spearing Chris Tierney.

Sharks coach Peter DeBoer juggled his lines in search of any kind of offensive spark, moving Marleau up to the top line with Joe Thornton and Pavelski among other changes.

It paid off immediately when San Jose scored on the opening shift. Pavelski won an offensive zone faceoff back to Justin Braun and then deflected a point shot past Talbot for his first goal of the series.

Playing with a lead for the first time all series, the Sharks were energized and dominated the play early. Even the struggling power play that had scored only once and allowed two short-handed goals in the first three games got into the action.

Pavelski slid a cross-ice pass to Couture, who took a second to gather the puck before beating Talbot with a wrister from the faceoff circle for his first goal since having several teeth knocked out when he took a slap shot to the mouth March 25 in Nashville.

Couture, who led the NHL in playoff scoring last year, missed the final seven games of the regular season and hadn't been at his usual form to start this series. He wore a cage to protect his mouth the first two games before going back to the half-visor for Game 3.

San Jose then took the game over in the second starting when Marleau scored on an early power play. Sorensen knocked in a rebound midway through the period and Couture ended Talbot's night with a wrister from the circle.

Pavelski added his second late on the period to take advantage of Draisaitl's penalty as San Jose converted four of eight power-play chances after going 1 for 14 the first three games.

That prompted chants of ''We want seven!'' from the delirious crowd and it came when Schlemko scored on the power play in the third.

NOTES: The Rangers beat Atlanta 7-0 on April 17, 2007. ... The previous fastest playoff goal for San Jose came 28 seconds into the game by Dany Heatley against Los Angeles in 2011. ... NFL Hall of Famer Jerry Rice opened the dressing room to lead the Sharks on the ice to start the game.

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Blue Jackets stave off elimination with Game 4 win over Penguins

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Markus Nutivaara, William Karlsson, and Boone Jenner each had a goal and an assist, and the Columbus Blue Jackets held on to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-4 on Tuesday, avoiding a sweep in the best-of-seven playoff series.

Jack Johnson and Josh Anderson also scored for the Blue Jackets, who were able to outlast the Penguins when they pushed back hard in the second and third periods and then got a short-handed goal from Jake Guenztel with 27 seconds left in the game.

Sergei Bobrovsky had 27 saves to help the Blue Jackets get their first playoff win in three years and their first-ever in regulation.

The Penguins now lead 3-1 in the best-of-seven series, which returns to Pittsburgh for Game 5 on Thursday night.

Patric Hornqvist, Ron Hainsey, and Tom Kuhnhackl also scored for Pittsburgh, and Marc-Andre Fleury - pressed into service because of an injury to Matt Murray at the start of the series - had 29 saves.

Columbus got offense from its lower lines, building leads of 3-1, 4-2 and 4-3 before Jenner poked in a goal amid heavy traffic 5:37 into the third period for a 5-3 lead. Pittsburgh got the late goal but ran out of time.

Johnson scored first for the Blue Jackets at 11:46 of the opening period when he launched a wrister from the right point into traffic that bounced off Sidney Crosby's skate and into the net.

There was less luck involved when Anderson made it 2-0 with a little over minute left in the period. He grabbed a chip pass from Karlsson, circled in from the right and beat Fleury between the pads.

Columbus went up 3-0 at 4:49 of the second when Nutivaara scored off a rebound.

Just like in Game 3 when they rallied from a 3-1 deficit, the Penguins began roaring back.

Hornqvist struck for Pittsburgh during a power play 6:43 in the second. His rebound shot from the doorstep rolled up the pad of Bobrovsky with the goalie dropped in front of the net. Ten minutes later, Phil Kessel passed the puck out to Hainsey to the far right and he beat a shielded Bobrovsky from a severe angle. The Blue Jackets were lucky to get out of the last few minutes of the period without another score from the swarming Penguins.

The Blue Jackets got a goal from Karlsson 27 seconds into the third that seemed to pump them up again. But Kuhnhackl found the back of the net on a rebound less than two minutes later to make it 4-3 before Jenner put Columbus back up by two.

NOTES: Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella scratched veteran winger Scott Hartnell on his 35th birthday, replacing him in the lineup with Lukas Sedlak, who returned from an injury. ... F Matt Calvert also was back after serving a one-game suspension for breaking his stick over the back of Kuhnhackl on Friday. .... D Kyle Quincey made his playoff debut for Columbus after D Zach Werenski was knocked out with a puck to the face Sunday. D Scott Harrington was a scratch.

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Rangers even series vs. Canadiens, snap 6-game home playoff losing streak

NEW YORK - Rick Nash and Jesper Fast scored, Henrik Lundqvist made 23 saves, and the New York Rangers beat the Montreal Canadiens 2-1 on Tuesday night to even their first-round playoff series at two games apiece.

New York's win also ended a six-game losing streak at home in the playoffs going back to the 2015 Eastern Conference Final.

Torrey Mitchell scored for Montreal and Carey Price made 30 saves.

Game 5 is Thursday night in Montreal before the series returns to Madison Square Garden on Saturday night.

The Rangers, who gave up the tying goal with 18 seconds left in the third period of Game 2 before losing in overtime, stopped Montreal in the final minutes in this one.

After a lackluster performance in a 3-1 loss in Game 3, the Rangers came out aggressive early in Game 4.

Lundqvist kept it scoreless as he stopped Andrew Shaw on a breakaway midway through the first period.

About a minute later, Canadiens defenseman Andrei Markov misplayed the puck along the boards and Fast grabbed the loose puck and slid it through the legs of Price for an unassisted goal at 11:39 to open the scoring.

The Canadiens tied it late in the period. Alexander Radulov eluded the check of Brady Skjei near the Rangers' bench and passed the puck to Mitchell, who started a 2-on-1 break with Shea Weber and Mitchell scored into an open net with 1:23 remaining. Radulov earned his fourth assist of the series on the play.

The Rangers controlled the play for most of the second period as the Canadiens had only one shot on goal in the first 11 minutes.

Nash gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead early in the second. Ryan McDonagh kept the puck in the zone and sent a nice pass to Nash near the front of the net and he slipped a backhand past Price at 4:28 for his second of the series.

NOTES: Looking to spark the offense, Pavel Buchnevich, who was a healthy scratch for the first three games of this series, was in the lineup for Rangers. Defenseman Nick Holden was also in the lineup. Tanner Glass, who scored in Game 1, and Kevin Klein were among the scratches. ... The Rangers are 0 for 12 on the power play in the series. ... The Rangers' previous home playoff game win was in Game 1 of the 2015 Eastern Conference Final against Tampa Bay.

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Weber, Radulov power Canadiens to win over Rangers

NEW YORK - Alexander Radulov had a goal and an assist to lead Montreal to a 3-1 victory over the New York Rangers on Sunday night, giving the Canadiens a 2-1 lead in the first-round playoff series.

Artturi Lehkonen and Shea Weber scored power-play goals for Montreal and Carey Price stopped 20 shots.

Radulov, who got the overtime winner in Game 2 on Friday night after Tomas Plekanec tied it with 18 seconds left in regulation, has two goals and three assists in the past two games.

Brady Skjei spoiled Price's shutout bid with 2:56 remaining for his first career playoff goal.

Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist, coming off a playoff career-high 54 saves in Game 2, stopped 26 shots in this one.

Game 4 is Tuesday night.

With Montreal leading 1-0, the Rangers' Mats Zuccarello was whistled for a double-minor for high-sticking 4:07 into the third.

The Canadiens took advantage 3 1/2 minutes later with their second power-play goal of the game. Weber got a pass from Alex Galchenyuk in the left circle and fired it past a sprawled Lundqvist at 7:42.

Radulov made it 3-0 with some nice stickhandling, dumping the puck past Lundqvist with 4:25 left.

The second period was played with a deliberate pace, with the Canadiens outshooting the Rangers 12-6. Price stopped a slap shot by Michael Grabner about six minutes in, and then made a glove save on Derek Stepan with 5:45 left.

With the Rangers' J.T. Miller off on a delay of game penalty for a faceoff infraction, the Canadiens started pressing on their first power play of the game. Lundqvist made a succession of saves in close with 2 1/2 minutes to go, stopping Lehkonen twice and then Plekanec once.

Montreal broke through when, off a faceoff to Lundqvist's right, Lehkonen got a pass from Brendan Gallagher and fired the puck over Lundqvist's left shoulder with 2:23 left in the period for his first career postseason goal.

It was the first power-play goal of the series. Both teams were 0 for 7 through the first two games, and the Rangers finished 0 for 3 in this game.

The Rangers' best chance early came when Oscar Lindberg's shot beat Price, but rang off the right post about 6 1/2 minutes into the first period. Price also made a nice glove save on Grabner 2 1/2 minutes later.

The Canadiens had a flurry of chances after that.

First, Lundqvist had to make a flurry of saves after that. First, he stopped a tip-in attempt by Max Pacioretty at 9:21.

Less than a minute later Lundqvist stopped a wrist shot by Paul Byron, and after a giveaway by Chris Kreider, Byron's slap shot was denied by the Rangers' goalie. Dwight King then hit a shot off the crossbar with 8 1/2 minutes to go.

Price made a stop on an in-close attempt by Kevin Hayes with about 3 minutes remaining, and then a diving save on a backhand follow by Rick Nash seconds later.

NOTES: Rangers D Kevin Klein played after sitting out the first two games of the series. Klein missed 16 straight games due to an injury before playing in six of the last seven to close the regular season. ... D Andrei Markov appeared in his 86th playoff game, tying Yvon Lambert, Bert Olmstead and Peter Mahovlich for 40th place on the franchise list. Plekanec appeared in his 84th, tying Chris Nilan for 43rd. ... Canadiens D Brandon Davidson appeared in his first playoff game. ... Canadiens coach Claude Julien tied Alain Vigneault and Fred Shero for 14th place on NHL playoff coaching wins list at 63.

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Blues take Game 3, put Wild on brink of elimination

ST. LOUIS - Jaden Schwartz scored the go-ahead goal in the second period and Jake Allen made 40 saves to lead the St. Louis Blues to a 3-1 win over the Minnesota Wild on Sunday for a 3-0 lead in their first-round playoff series.

Colton Parayko also scored for the Blues and Alexander Steen added an empty-netter for St. Louis, which will try to sweep the series Wednesday night in St. Louis.

Charlie Coyle scored for Minnesota, which got 28 saves from Devan Dubnyk.

Schwartz had a power-play goal at 15:19 of the second period to put the Blues one win away from the second round. He scored with 2:27 left in the third period of Game 2 to give St. Louis the 2-1 win.

Allen was the star of the first two games. He stopped 74 of 76 shots for a .974 save percentage against a Wild team that ranked second in the NHL in scoring during the regular season.

The Blues scored just 3:25 into the first period when Parayko beat Dubnyk high with a shot from the high slot after a nice pass from Patrik Berglund. The goal was the third in 23 playoff games for Parayko, who scored four goals in 81 games this season.

St. Louis out-shot Minnesota 15-9 in the first period, but couldn't build on its early lead. Vladimir Tarasenko and Steen both hit the post.

Minnesota tied it with a goal from Coyle with 7:01 left in the second period. Coyle scored off a rebound of a shot from Zach Parise, giving the Wild their first even-strength goal of the series and Parise his third point in three games.

The Blues scored their first power-play goal of the series from Schwartz with 4:41 remaining in the second period. Schwartz, who took a high stick from Ryan White to earn the penalty, scored his second goal of the series off a pass from Steen behind the net.

Minnesota put 19 shots on goal in the third period, but couldn't beat Allen.

The Wild pulled Dubnyk for an extra attacker with 2:10 remaining and Steen scored his first of the playoffs, assisted by Berglund and Vladimir Sobotka, into the empty net with 1:11 left.

NOTES: The Wild made two lineup changes for Game 3. D Christian Folin was scratched in favor of D Nate Prosser. Folin was minus-2 in the first two games of the series. RW Ryan White made his Wild playoff debut in place of rookie Joel Eriksson Ek. ... Blues C Jori Lehtera was a healthy scratch for the second consecutive game.

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Tom Wilson set to play the villain as series shifts to Toronto

As NHL playoff hockey returns to Toronto for the first time since 2013, a local boy whose family couldn't afford to attend many games when he was younger will be in the building.

Ditching the Maple Leafs jerseys of his youth, Tom Wilson will try to beat his hometown team as his Washington Capitals attempt to rebound from a double-overtime loss that evened the first-round series at a game apiece. The Capitals' Game 1 overtime hero, the Toronto native is back and ready to be public enemy No. 1 at Air Canada Centre.

''A couple years ago I got booed off the ice at the end of a game in my hometown, so we've crossed that one off the list,'' Wilson said last week. ''I'm going to go out there to play my game and it's going to feel good to beat anyone in the postseason, and obviously pretty cool to go in. The ACC is going to be absolutely electric, and there's no doubt in my mind that that's going to be charged up and fun to play in, and so as a hometown guy it's going to be fun to go back and play there.''

Toronto coach Mike Babcock ruffled some feathers when he pointed out that Wilson is ''not as big of a concern'' as other Capitals players like Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom. Wilson agreed with that even after scoring in overtime to win Game 1, but the 23-year-old power forward specializes in getting under the skin of opponents and opposing fans.

''He's probably so excited to go in there and be the villain and just do his thing,'' Capitals winger Brett Connolly said. ''He's a guy who does a lot of dirty work and (plays) a lot of hard minutes and sticks up for his teammates and gets in fights with guys that maybe you don't want to at the time but he's going to do it anyways because he's a good teammate.''

Loved by teammates and despised by opponents, Wilson perhaps fittingly had a Darcy Tucker Maple Leafs jersey as a kid, a nod to the kind of player he has become. It speaks to how rare playoff games in Toronto have been recently that it was only 10 Maple Leafs playoff games ago that Tucker leveled Sami Kapanen in the final game of a 2004 second-round series loss to the Philadelphia Flyers.

Fast forward 13 years to Saturday, and Kapanen's son, Kasperi, scored twice in Game 2, including the winner in the second overtime to send the series across the Canadian border tied at 1. Toronto was always going to be jacked up for the first home game of the playoffs but perhaps even more so now that the Maple Leafs have some serious momentum.

''It'll be a great environment, it'll be a playoff atmosphere,'' Washington coach Barry Trotz said Saturday on a conference call. ''You'll get chills down your spine when you're on the bench for both teams.''

Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly, who played more than 40 minutes in Game 2 because of the length of the game and the season-ending leg injury to Roman Polak, said ''you can't ask for much more'' than getting a split in Washington and going home. Only five players are left from the last Toronto playoff team that made the playoffs and lost to the Boston Bruins: forwards Nazem Kadri, Tyler Bozak, James van Riemsdyk, and Leo Komarov, and defenseman Jake Gardiner.

It'll be a new experience for Kapanen, Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Zach Hyman, and Mitch Marner, but they got a taste in their playoff clincher against Pittsburgh. Capitals defenseman Brooks Orpik was watching his former Penguins teammates and scouting the Maple Leafs in that one, and he has a good idea what to expect.

''I'm sure they're pretty revved up. They haven't had a playoff game in a while,'' Orpik said. ''We got an experienced team in here. We know what it's like to play on the road in the playoffs. You got to focus on what you can do and play the system that we're supposed to. You can't make mistakes there and give them extra chances to generate energy with the crowd.''

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